Location: Agricultural Systems Research
2024 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Develop and provide guidance for the use of sustainable crop production strategies for irrigated crop production systems.
Subobjective 1.1. Develop diverse sprinkler irrigated cropping systems that include annual legume crops to improve farm economic and environmental sustainability by enhancing system productivity and input use efficiency.
Subobjective 1.2. Evaluate the effect of tillage practices on sprinkler irrigated cropping system productivity; input use efficiency; and soil, air, and water quality.
Objective 2: Develop no-till sustainable crop production strategies for long-term dryland production systems with diverse crop rotations that include cereals, pulse crops, oilseeds and other bioenergy crops.
Subobjective 2.1. Develop no-till diversified dryland crop rotations that include cereal, pulse and oilseed crops, and that increase crop water use efficiency, N-use efficiency, and soil quality while maintaining yield and quality of the individual crops.
Subobjective 2.2. Determine the sequence of cereal, pulse, and oilseed crops in notill dryland rotations that optimizes yield, crop water use efficiency, and N-use efficiency.
Subobjective 2.3. Develop dryland crop rotations that reduce periods of fallow in annually cropped systems and increase crop water use efficiency, N-use efficiency, and soil quality.
Sub-objective 2.4: Assess the impact of novel production practices on indicators of cropping system sustainability by determining relationships between soil health, soil moisture holding capacity and crop condition in the northern Great Plains agroecosystems.
Approach
Agriculture is facing major challenges in providing food, fiber, and fuel to a growing population with limited land and water resources. With rising incomes, longer life spans, changes in dietary preferences, and demands for improved nutrition, pressures are mounting for producers to improve production efficiencies and ecosystem services. In the northern Great Plains, traditional dryland cropping systems that include conventional tillage with crop-fallow are uneconomical and unsustainable. Also, with the availability of unallocated irrigation water in the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, areas under irrigated cropping systems are poised to increase in the MonDak region (eastern MT, western ND), resulting in new markets and potential for increased crop diversity. To address these critical issues, best
practices for conservation tillage and diversified dryland and irrigated cropping systems must be developed. Our proposed research addresses these needs by utilizing cropping system trials to develop scientifically-sound, diversified dryland and irrigated cropping strategies that: (1) improve management of water, soil, and nutrients, through increased efficiency, (2) diversify crop rotations to include cereals, pulse, oilseed, forage, and bioethanol crops, and (3) increase net farm productivity. Successful completion of this project will provide stakeholders and customers with tools to reduce labor, water, input, and energy requirements while increasing crop yield and quality and improving soil and environmental quality. These tools will be transferred to stakeholders through research paper publications, field tours, focus group meetings, agricultural fairs, bulletins, websites, and other outreach activities.
Progress Report
This is the previous report for the prior project for the new project which began in February 2024 and continues research from the previous project, 3032-21600-001-000D, “Climate-resilient Sustainable Irrigated and Dryland Cropping Systems in the Semi-arid Northern Great Plains”. Please see the report for the current project for additional information.
Accomplishments
Review Publications
Zhu, S., Sainju, U.M., Zhang, S., Tan, G., Wen, M., Dou, Y., Yang, R., Chen, J., Zhao, F., Wang, J. 2023. Cover cropping promotes soil carbon sequestration by enhancing microaggregate-protected and mineral-associated carbon. Science of the Total Environment. 908. Article 168330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168330.
Rana Dangi, S., Calderon, R.B. 2024. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi and Rhizobium improve nutrient uptake and microbial diversity relative to dryland site-specific soil conditions. Microorganisms. 12:667-687. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12040667.
Scheffel, A.J., Johnsrude, L., Allen, B.L., Wettstein, S.G. 2023. Composition analysis and environmental factors influencing biomass quality: A comparative study of Montana-grown biomasses. BioEnergy Research. 17:956-963. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-023-10690-8.