• Authors:
    • Li, R.
    • Wang, M.
    • Jia, Z.
    • Hou, X.
    • Yang, B.
    • Han, W.
    • Nie, J.
    • Zhang, R.
  • Source: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 28
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: In order to improve rainfall utilization efficiency and increase water availability for crops in dry farming area, a field experiment was conducted in 2007-2010 at Heyang Dryland Farming Experimental Station in Shaanxi province of China to determine the effect of different ridge and furrow with mulching cultivation patterns on soil water, soil temperature, yield of spring maize, and economic returns. The ridges were covered with common plastic film in all treatments, while different furrows were mulched with common plastic film, biodegradable film, corn straw, liquid film and uncovering, respectively. The flat plot without mulch was used as the control. The results obtained in a four-year experiment showed that, at the seedling stage of maize, the average temperature in 5-25 cm soil layer under common plastic film and biodegradable film were 2.4degreesC and 2.1degreesC higher than that of the control respectively. In contrast, the temperature under corn straw covering was 1.7degreesC lower than that of the control. Besides, the different rainwater harvesting treatments could improve soil moisture in the early growth of maize. There was no difference in the soil moisture level between corn straw, liquid film, uncovering and the control during the middle and late growth of maize. However, the soil moisture of common plastic film and biodegradable film in deep soil layer were lower than that of the control. Compared with the control, the 4-year average maize yield with biodegradable film, common plastic film, and corn straw mulching significantly increased by 35.2%, 34.7% and 33.6%, and the average water use efficiency increased by 30.6%, 30.2% and 28.6%, respectively. The total net income with corn straw mulching was the highest, followed by biodegradable film mulching, and the total net income increased by 3 299 and 2 752 Yuan/hm 2 respectively, compared to the control. It was concluded that when the ridges were covered with common plastic film, the furrows was mulched with biodegradable film or straw, not only the soil water and temperature conditions were improved, but also the maize yield and net income were increased. Therefore, these two treatments are considered as efficient for maize production in Weibei Highland area.
  • Authors:
    • Weber, D.
    • Way, T. R.
    • Camargo, G. G.
    • Mirsky, S. B.
    • Ryan, M. R.
    • Curran, W. S.
    • Teasdale, J. R.
    • Maul, J.
    • Moyer, J.
    • Grantham, A. M.
    • Spargo, J. T.
  • Source: Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
  • Volume: 27
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Organic producers in the mid-Atlantic region of the USA are interested in reducing tillage, labor and time requirements for grain production. Cover crop-based, organic rotational no-till grain production is one approach to accomplish these goals. This approach is becoming more viable with advancements in a system for planting crops into cover crop residue flattened by a roller-crimper. However, inability to consistently control weeds, particularly perennial weeds, is a major constraint. Cover crop biomass can be increased by manipulating seeding rate, timing of planting and fertility to achieve levels (>8000 kg ha -1) necessary for suppressing summer annual weeds. However, while cover crops are multi-functional tools, when enhancing performance for a given function there are trade-off with other functions. While cover crop management is required for optimal system performance, integration into a crop rotation becomes a critical challenge to the overall success of the production system. Further, high levels of cover crop biomass can constrain crop establishment by reducing optimal seed placement, creating suitable habitat for seed- and seedling-feeding herbivores, and impeding placement of supplemental fertilizers. Multi-institutional and -disciplinary teams have been working in the mid-Atlantic region to address system constraints and management trade-off challenges. Here, we report on past and current research on cover crop-based organic rotational no-till grain production conducted in the mid-Atlantic region.
  • Authors:
    • Presley, D. R.
    • Sindelar, A. J.
    • Buckley, M. E.
    • Mengel, D. B.
  • Source: Agronomy Journal
  • Volume: 104
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Grain sorghum [ Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important grain crop grown in both highly productive and marginal areas in the central Great Plains because of the crop's ability to use the erratic precipitation observed in this region. More effective capture and storage of this limited rainfall is needed to improve the productivity and profitability of dryland agriculture. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of long-term tillage and N fertilization on soil physical and hydraulic properties after long-term continuous grain sorghum production. Variables included conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT) and four rates of N fertilizer. Selected soil quality indicators included soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density (BD), wet aggregate stability (WAS), and ponded infiltration. No-till accumulated more SOC in the surface 0 to 5 cm, and was less dense at all depths than CT. When tillage was compared across all N rates, NT contained 30% greater SOC than CT at the 0 to 5 cm. Mean weight diameter (MWD) was larger with increasing N fertilization and eliminating tillage. Ponded infiltration rates were greatest for the high N fertilization rate under NT, and lowest for the 0 kg N ha -1 rate under CT. In this long-term grain sorghum system, increasing N fertilization rate and NT both positively affected soil physical properties. These improvements in hydraulic properties will aid in more effectively capturing unpredictable precipitation, and further underscore the utility of NT management practices for the central Great Plains region.
  • Authors:
    • He, J.
    • Wang, Q.
    • Rasaily, R. G.
    • Li, H.
    • Lu, C.
  • Source: African Journal of Biotechnology
  • Volume: 11
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of tillage on soil properties in the field of maize ( Zea mays L.) and winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) annual double cropping region in North China Plain. Measurements were made following six years (2005 to 2010) of three tillage treatments; no till with controlled traffic (NTCT), no till random trafficking (NTRT) and conventional tillage (CT) on a silt loam according to the USDA texture classification system soil in Daxing district, which lies in the suburb of Beijing. Long term no till with controlled traffic significantly (P<0.05) increased macro-aggregates, infiltration rate, soil moisture, together with reductions in soil bulk density, soil compaction in different layers compared with the no till random traffic and traditional mould board tillage treatment currently used in this region. Consequently, mean winter wheat and summer maize yields for the NTCT treatment were improved by 2.8 and 7.1% when compared with the soils under no till random traffic, while huge improvement was found when it was compared with conventional ploughing management (4.2 and 12.08% for wheat and maize, respectively). The long-term experiment demonstrated that no-tillage controlled traffic with residues retained, offers a potentially significant improvement over the current farming systems in annual double cropping areas of North China Plain.
  • Authors:
    • Rasaily, R. G.
    • Lu, C.
    • Li, H.
    • He, J.
    • Wang, Q.
    • Su, Y.
  • Source: Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 28
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: In order to solve the problems of residue blocking and difficulty to open the furrow of no-till wheat planter in heavy corn residue cover fields in annual double cropping areas of the North China, a telescopic lever furrowing and anti-blocking unit was designed for no-till planter. Its key parameters were determined based on a band between orthogonal test and the structure analysis, and a telescopic lever furrowing and anti-blocking unit was used to conduct the field experiment. The field experiment showed that the telescopic lever furrowing and anti-blocking unit could solve the problem of straw blocking effectively and improve the seeding quality. Compared with the strip rotary-tilling anti-blocking unit, the telescopic lever furrowing and anti-blocking unit could reduce topsoil disturbance quantity by 21.5%; fuel consumption per unit area was reduced by 23.65% when the depth of furrow opening was 10 cm, which could reduce power consumption of tractor. Above all, the telescopic lever furrowing and anti-blocking unit has important value in extending no-tillage planter.
  • Authors:
    • Lee, Y.
    • Kwak, Y.
    • Lee, S.
    • Choi, K.
    • Seo, Y.
    • Kim, M.
    • Yang, S.
  • Source: World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Volume: 28
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: The present study evaluated the changes of soil microbial communities that were subjected to no-till and compared the results to those subject to tillage for organic farming in a controlled horticultural field by fatty acid methyl ester. Fungi ( P<0.001), gram-positive bacteria ( P<0.001), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi ( P<0.01), and actinomycetes ( P<0.01) in the no-till soils were significantly larger than those in the tillage soils. The no-till in the subsoil had a significantly lower ratio of cy17:0 to 16:1omega7c compared to that of tillage, indicating that microbial stress decreased because the soils were not disturbed ( P<0.05). Fungi should be considered as a potential factor responsible for the obvious microbial community differentiation that was observed between the no-till and tillage areas in a controlled horticultural field.
  • Authors:
    • Bryant, R. B.
    • Schmidt, J. P.
    • Zhu, Q.
  • Source: Journal of Hydrology
  • Volume: 414-415
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Non-point nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution from agriculture has increasingly received more public attention. In this study. NO3-N, dissolved P (DP) and particulate P (PP) concentrations and loads were investigated for four sub-basins (labeled 1-4 going up the watershed) within a mixed land use watershed (39.5 ha) in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province. The hot moments of NO3-N concentration and load occurred in base flow and during the non-growing season. Great and temporally variable DP and PP concentrations were observed in storm flow. The hot moments of DP concentration and load were in storm flow from May to December and from September to Nov, respectively, while the hot moments of PP concentration and load were in storm flow from January to June. The NO3-N, DP, and PP loads were compared for all four sub-basins on a loss per length of stream reach basis to determine the hot spots and their corresponding losses. The hot spots and hot moments of NO3-N loads were in Sub-basins 1 and 4 during the non-growing season base flow period and Sub-basin 2 during the post-growing season base flow period (>110 g m(-1) mo(-1)). The hot spots of DP loads were also in Subbasins 1 and 4, but during the growing and post-growing season storm flow period (>1.4 g m(-1) mo(-1)). In contrast, the hot spots and hot moments of PP load were in Sub-basin 3 during the pre-growing and growing season storm flow, as much as 13.4 and 14.1 g m(-1) mo(-1), respectively. Controlling factors of nutrient export were discussed in this study, including season, hydrology (base flow, storm flow, surface and subsurface runoff), and land use. Although different hot moments and hot spots within the watershed were identified for NO3-N, DP, and PP losses, the implementation of a couple of management practices (cover crops and no-till) might be sufficient to effectively reduce nutrient losses from this and similar Valley and Ridge watersheds.
  • Authors:
    • Chen, X.
    • Zhang, T.
    • Chen, G.
    • Chen, Z.
    • Chen, X.
    • Zhang, T.
    • Chen, G.
    • Chen, Z.
  • Source: Xinjiang Agricultural Sciences
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Objective: Study the feasibility of secondary treated waste water for agricultural irrigation in Urumqi. Method: Chinese cabbage and cotton were used as experimental materials and treated respectively with treatment 1 which is control, treatment 2 which is 50% reclaimed water, and treatment 3 which is 100% reclaimed water. POD, CAT, SOD, MDA, and dry weight of Chinese cabbage and production of cotton were detected. Result: Results showed that inhibitory effects of reclaimed water were proportional to the treatment duration and concentration. The dry weight of 50% reclaimed water treated treatment 1, as the order treatment 2 > treatment 1 > treatment 3. Because the nutrients and harmful substances respectively played promotion and inhibition on the growth of Chinese cabbage, treatment 2 growed better; The yields per acre of cotton under three kinds treatments were significant difference, as the order treatment 1 > treatment 2 > treatment 3, that means reclaimed water inhibits the growth of cotton. Conclusion: Reclaimed water showed different effects on different crops. On cabbage, it mainly showed promotive effect, while on cotton, it mainly showed inhibition effect.
  • Authors:
    • Liu, W. Z.
    • Li, Y.
    • Zhu, H. H.
    • Coleman, K.
    • Wu, J. S.
    • Guo, S. L.
  • Source: Plant and Soil
  • Volume: 353
  • Issue: 1/2
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: Aims: Concerns over food security and global climate change require an improved understanding of how to achieve optimal crop yields whilst minimizing net greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. In the semi-arid Loess Plateau region of China, as elsewhere, fertilizer nitrogen (N) inputs are necessary to increase yields and improve local food security. Methods: In a dryland annual cropping system, we evaluated the effects of N fertilizers on crop yield, its long-term impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) concentrations and stock sizes, and the distribution of carbon (C) within various aggregate-size fractions. A current version (RothC) of the Rothamsted model for the turnover of organic C in soil was used to simulate changes in SOC. Five N application rates [0 (N0), 45 (N45), 90 (N90), 135 (N135), and 180 (N180) kg N ha -1] were applied to plots for 25 years (1984-2009) on a loam soil (Cumulic Haplustoll) at the Changwu State Key Agro-Ecological Experimental Station, Shaanxi, China. Results: Crop yield varied with year, but increased over time in the fertilized plots. Average annual grain yields were 1.15, 2.46, 3.11, 3.49, and 3.55 Mg ha -1 with the increasing N application rates, respectively. Long-term N fertilizer application increased significantly ( P=0.041) SOC concentrations and stocks in the 0-20 cm horizon. Each kilogram of fertilizer N applied increased SOC by 0.51 kg in the top soil from 1984 to 2009. Using RothC, the calculated annual inputs of plant C (in roots, stubble, root exudates, etc.) to the soil were 0.61, 0.74, 0.78, 0.86, and 0.97 Mg Cha -1 year -1 in N0, N45, N90, N135 and N180 treatments, respectively. The modeled turnover time of SOC (excluding inert organic C) in the continuous wheat cropping system was 26 years. The SOC accumulation rate was calculated to be 40.0, 48.0, 68.0, and 100.0 kg C ha -1 year -1 for the N45, N90, N135 and N180 treatments over 25 years, respectively. As aboveground biomass was removed, the increases in SOC stocks with higher N application are attributed to increased inputs of root biomass and root exudates. Increasing N application rates significantly improved C concentrations in the macroaggregate fractions (>1 mm). Conclusions: Applying N fertilizer is a sustainable practice, especially in carbon sequestration and crop productivity, for the semiarid Loess Plateau region.
  • Authors:
    • Vervoort, W.
    • Ancev,T.
    • Lee, L. Y.
  • Source: Agricultural Water Management
  • Volume: 109
  • Year: 2012
  • Summary: An integrated biophysical and economic model is used to determine the effects of using more water efficient irrigation systems and trade in water rights on the environmental performance of irrigation enterprises in the Mooki catchment within the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. We find that improved water use efficiency increased profit in the presence of modern irrigation technologies and water trading. Salinity risk downstream is reduced due to the fall in saline discharge from the catchment, and irrigation water is traded away from ecologically significant regions. It is important that the institutional setup gives confidence in the security of water supplies. When irrigators can be assured about the security of their water entitlements in the context of water reform policies, incentives emerge for them to invest in water efficient irrigation technologies and to participate in the water market. Environmental performance can thereby be improved without the need for financial support from the government. Further, minimal government intervention is required to address salinity; given the conjunctive nature of secondary salinity and water use it can be cost-efficient to address both environmental flow and salinity mitigation with a single policy instrument. (C) 2012 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.