Cover Crop and Soil Amendment Effects on Carbon Sequestration in a Silage Corn-soybean Cropping System

Cover Crop and Soil Amendment Effects on Carbon Sequestration in a Silage Corn-soybean Cropping System PDF Author: Bradley Eric Fronning
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Carbon sequestration
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Cover Crop and Soil Amendment Effects on Carbon Sequestration in a Silage Corn-soybean Cropping System

Cover Crop and Soil Amendment Effects on Carbon Sequestration in a Silage Corn-soybean Cropping System PDF Author: Bradley Eric Fronning
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Carbon sequestration
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description


Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. )

Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. ) PDF Author: Andy Clark
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437903797
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

The Effect of Cover Crop on Soil Carbon and Soil Water Retention in Topographically Diverse Terrain

The Effect of Cover Crop on Soil Carbon and Soil Water Retention in Topographically Diverse Terrain PDF Author: Jordan Beehler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781369436204
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems

Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems PDF Author: Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0128054018
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Soil Health and Intensification of Agroecosystems examines the climate, environmental, and human effects on agroecosystems and how the existing paradigms must be revised in order to establish sustainable production. The increased demand for food and fuel exerts tremendous stress on all aspects of natural resources and the environment to satisfy an ever increasing world population, which includes the use of agriculture products for energy and other uses in addition to human and animal food. The book presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate. The book explores the introduction of sustainable agroecosystems that promote biodiversity, sustain soil health, and enhance food production as ways to help mitigate some of these adverse effects. New agroecosystems will help define a resilient system that can potentially absorb some of the extreme shifts in climate. Changing the existing cropping system paradigm to utilize natural system attributes by promoting biodiversity within production agricultural systems, such as the integration of polycultures, will also enhance ecological resiliency and will likely increase carbon sequestration. Focuses on the intensification and integration of agroecosystem and soil resiliency by presenting suggested modifications of the current cropping system paradigm Examines climate, environment, and human effects on agroecosystems Explores in depth the wide range of intercalated soil and plant interactions as they influence soil sustainability and, in particular, soil quality Presents options for ecological systems that mimic the natural diversity of the ecosystem and can have significant effect as the world faces a rapidly changing and volatile climate

The Role of Biotechnology in a Sustainable Food Supply

The Role of Biotechnology in a Sustainable Food Supply PDF Author: Jennie Popp
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052119234X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This is a multidisciplinary volume on the use of agricultural biotechnology to provide a sustainable food supply.

Soil Management

Soil Management PDF Author: Jerry L. Hatfield
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0891188533
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.

Cover Crop Introduction Into Corn (Zea Mays L.)-Soybean (Glycine Max L.) Cropping Systems

Cover Crop Introduction Into Corn (Zea Mays L.)-Soybean (Glycine Max L.) Cropping Systems PDF Author: Angela M. Bastidas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780355684018
Category : Corn
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Fall-seeded cover crops are limited by the short growing season remaining between harvest and planting the succeeding crop. To address this challenge, we considered two alternative systems for introducing cover crops into corn (Zea mays L.)- soybean (Glycine max L.) cropping systems. The first alternative was to interseed the cover crops species with corn at specific developmental stages. We evaluated the effect on corn, cover crop biomass, and the subsequent soybean crop. No detrimental effects on corn were found when cover crops were interseeded at or after corn canopy closure due to the limited cover crop biomass produced during the growing season. However, corn was negatively affected with cover crops interseed at corn planting. Cover crops interseeded at canopy closure did not establish due to corn canopy shading. Cover crops interseeded at or after R5 (dent) produced greater biomass the following spring than in the fall, and cover crops interseeded at R5 and R6 (physiological maturity) produced greater biomass than cover crops interseeded at corn harvest. This indicated that the interseeding by broadcasting cover crops can be successful for improving biomass production. The second alternative was to modify corn management practices such as planting date, plant population, and comparative corn relative maturity (CRM) to allow earlier cover crop seeding dates. We attempted to understand the impact on corn yield, cover crop biomass production, and the subsequent soybean crop. Early- and early-to-medium-maturity hybrids allowed corn harvest about one month earlier and medium-maturity hybrids about 15 d earlier than late-maturity hybrids. No differences in corn yield were observed between the medium- and late-maturity hybrids planted at the earlier planting date, with a 107 CRM hybrid planted early having the highest yield of 16.0 Mg ha-1. The greatest cover crop biomass production occurred with the earliest cover crop planting date. Cover crop biomass increased with air temperature, which was measured with growing degree days (GDDC). This indicates that changes in planting date and corn CRM hybrids are important to increase the potential for use of cover crops. The subsequent soybean yield was not affected by cover crops in either alternative.

Cover Crop Effects on the Carbon Cycle

Cover Crop Effects on the Carbon Cycle PDF Author: Anna Marie Cates
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Cover crops, or the practice of adding an unharvested crop to an annual crop rotation, are increasing in popularity and widely recommended to help retain soil, water, and nutrients on agricultural land. However, the ability of cover crops to improve soil health and sequester soil C remains unknown. Cover crops are thought likely to increase soil C because they add diversity in C inputs and increase the total growing season, but the magnitude and probability of this effect in different systems is critical for informing our understanding of cover crop efficacy and making recommendations to growers. In addition, cover crops may impact biogeochemical cycling and soil processes via changing the abiotic environment. Motivated by the need for detailed evidence of cover crop efficacy at multiple scales, I combined field-based evaluation of cover crop effects on the C cycle with an investigation into mechanisms of C storage under varying abiotic conditions. In Chapter 1, I review establishment constraints and variability in production to argue that cover cropping in northern climates requires specific agronomic systems and "buy-in" from farmers and government agencies. In Chapter 2, I used a biometric approach to the net ecosystem C balanced (NECB) of maize-cover crop and found that grain maize's NECB hovered near zero, suggesting that with or without cover crops the systems had marginal ability to increase soil C. Silage maize's NECB was always negative, despite greater rye biomass. In Chapter 3, I carried out a litterbag experiment on maize residue decomposition, soil or litter microbial decomposer community and analyzed particulate organic matter (POM) and potentially mineralizable C (PMC) as indices of active C. We found that cover crops did not alter microbial composition or maize residue decomposition rate. We observed increases in PMC and POM-C with cover crops, which were correlated with total NPP. In Chapter 4, we report on a laboratory incubation evaluating whether temperature and moisture effect on physical protection of decomposing plant litter C. We found that higher temperatures increased C mineralization, shifted bacterial composition, and decreased efficiency of conversion of litter C to soil C, but dry conditions increased soil aggregation.

Effect of Cover Crops on Nutrient Dynamics and Soil Properties in Corn-soybean Rotation in Southern Illinois

Effect of Cover Crops on Nutrient Dynamics and Soil Properties in Corn-soybean Rotation in Southern Illinois PDF Author: Gurbir Singh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corn
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean ( Glycine max L.) production in the Midwest US can result in significant nutrient leaching to groundwater and surface waters, which contributes to eutrophication and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. A promising strategy to control nutrient leaching and sediment runoff loss during winter fallow period is the use of cover crops (CCs). In southern Illinois, CCs are not widely adopted by farmers due to economic constraints and the lack of scientific data that supports benefits of incorporating CCs into the corn-soybean rotation. This doctoral dissertation addresses the critical question of the feasibility of the use of CCs in southern Illinois and is divided into three overarching research studies with different objectives divided into six research chapters. Research study 1 was a field experiment conducted from 2013 to 2017 to examine the effect of CCs (CC vs noCC) under two tillage systems [(no-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT)] on aboveground plant attributes [dry matter yield, C:N ratio and nitrogen uptake (N uptake)], crop yields, available soil N content and N leaching in the vadose zone. The experimental layout was a randomized design with three rotations including corn-noCC-soybean-noCC [CncSnc], corn-cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) -soybean-hairy vetch (Vicia villosa R.) [CcrShv], and corn-cereal rye-soybean-oats+radish (Avena sativa L. + Raphanus sativus L.) [CcrSor] and two tillage systems. Soil samples collected after corn or soybean harvest and CC termination were analyzed for standard soil fertility parameters. Pan lysimeters installed below the 'A' horizon with depth varying from 22 to 30 cm were used for measuring soil solution nutrient concentration on weekly or biweekly basis depending on the precipitation. In NT system, the corn yield was 14% greater with CcrShv compared to CncSnc, whereas no significant difference existed in corn yield due to CC treatments within CT. Both CC treatments under NT reduced soybean yield by 24 to 27% compared to noCC. The rotations CcrShv and CcrSor with hairy vetch and oats+radish as preceding CCs resulted in 89% (37.73 vs 19.96 kg ha-1) and 68% (33.46 vs 19.96 kg ha-1) more nitrate-N (NO 3-N) leaching than the CncSnc during cash crop season 2015. During the CC season in spring 2016, cereal rye CC in CcrShv and CcrSor reduced the NO 3-N leaching by 84% (0.68 kg ha-1) and 78% (0.63 kg ha-1) compared to the CncSnc, respectively, under the CT system. Overall, our results indicated that the CT system had greater N leaching losses compared to NT system due to higher N availability in the tilled soil profile. The goal of the second research study was to understand the mechanisms of N cycling by CCs. We applied 15N labeled urea fertilizer (9.2% atom) to corn that followed hairy vetch and noCC in May 2017 to evaluate the contribution of fertilizer and soil organic matter to N leaching and quantify the 15N content of surface runoff after storm events. During the 2017 corn season, repeated soil samples were collected and analyzed for 15N fertilizer recovery in soil at three depths. 15N recovery was higher in the corn that had hairy vetch as the preceding CC than the corn that had noCC by 13.13 and 3.68 kg ha-1 on soil sampling events of 7 and 21 days after planting of corn, respectively, at the depth 15-30 cm. Overall, the cumulative loss of 15NO 3-N during corn season 2017 was

Impacts of Cover Crops on Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide Flux from a Row Crop Agricultural Field in Central Illinois

Impacts of Cover Crops on Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide Flux from a Row Crop Agricultural Field in Central Illinois PDF Author: Joshua Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In the United States, there is renewed interest in incorporating cover crops into agricultural systems to provide a variety of potential benefits related to soil quality, water quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. This study focused on assessing whether cover crops influence N 2 O and CO2 emissions in a central Illinois agricultural research field over two years (2011-2013) of cover crop growing seasons. Three winter cover crop systems, annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), cereal rye (Secale cereale), and a cereal rye (2011)/ hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) (2012) rotation were planted after fall 2011 and 2012 harvests. The field included a total of eight main plots, two of each treatment, and two no cover crop control plots. Soil carbon dioxide (CO 2) and nitrous oxide (N2 O) fluxes were measured from the plots in a single corn (Zea mays) - soybean (Glycine max) system for two cover crop growing seasons. Fluxes of CO 2 and CO2 were measured in March 2012, August 2012, and February 2013. The CO2 flux measurements were performed by using an infrared gas analyzer. The N2 O fluxes were analyzed from samples collected at 0, 10, 20, 30 min intervals from the same closed dynamic chamber system. Both CO2 and N2 O fluxes were computed from respective gas concentrations over time. Data were analyzed with a repeated measures mixed model procedure. N2 O fluxes from the cereal rye/hairy vetch plots were greater than the no cover control and annual ryegrass plots, suggesting that cover crops may not decrease N2 O fluxes immediately after being incorporated into a cropping system. In contrast, CO2 fluxes did not significantly differ among the treatments, but the cereal rye/hairy vetch plot sequestered ~100 kg C ha-1 of soil organic carbon (SOC). Overall, it was observed that some cover crop plots can have higher N2 O fluxes than plots without cover crops, but cover crops have the long-term potential to sequester C in croplands demonstrating that their use should still be considered a sustainable agriculture practice.