No-till is a commonly used crop production system in many countries. Crop yields may be initially decreased when soils are converted from a plow tillage system to no-till. Increasing the organic matter concentration in the soil at the surface seems a key in overcoming these initial yield declines. To test this hypothesis, we applied organic amendments consisting of fresh and composted wheat straw-bedded cow ( Bos taurus) manure at initial rates up to 170 Mg (dry weight) ha -1 to two newly established no-till field sites in Ohio, USA, where crops had previously been grown. The Wooster site is on a silt loam soil and the Hoytville site is on a silty clay loam soil. Maize ( Zea mays) was grown for consecutive years, and the impacts of the organic amendments on maize seedling emergence and grain yields and on soil quality factors were measured. In general, the organic amendments significantly ( P
