• Authors:
    • Lorenz, N.
    • Eastridge, M. L.
    • Dick, R. P.
    • Barker, D. J.
    • Sulc, R. M.
    • Fae, G. S.
  • Source: Agronomy Journal
  • Volume: 101
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The benefits of cover crops within crop rotations are well documented, but information is limited on using cover crops for forage within midwestern United States cropping systems, especially under no-tillage management. Our objective was to evaluate plant, animal, and soil responses when integrating winter cover crop forages into no-till corn (Zea mays L.) silage production. Three cover crop treatments were established no-till after corn silage in September 2006 and 2007 at Columbus, OH: annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.), a mixture of winter rye (Secale cereale L.) and oat (Avena sativa L.), and no cover crop. Total forage yield over autumn and spring seasons was 38 to 73% greater (P <= 0.05) for oat + winter rye than for annual ryegrass. Soil penetration resistance (SPR) in May 2007 was 7 to 15% greater (P <= 0.10) in the grazed cover crops than in the nongrazed no cover crop treatment; however, subsequent silage corn yield did not differ among treatments, averaging 10.4 Mg ha(-1) in August 2007. Compared with the no cover crop treatment, cover crops had three- to fivefold greater root yield, threefold greater soil microbial biomass (MB) in spring 2008, and 23% more particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations in the 0- to 15-cm soil depth. integration of forage cover crops into no-till corn silage production in Ohio can provide supplemental forage for animal feed without detrimental effects on subsequent corn silage productivity, with the added benefit of increasing labile soil C.
  • Authors:
    • Horwath, W.
    • Kallenbach, C.
    • Assa, J.
    • Burger, M.
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • Lal, R.
    • Blanco-Canqui, H.
  • Source: Soil Science Society of America Journal
  • Volume: 73
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Franzluebbers (2009) is right about the need for a more intensive soil sampling, "repeated sampling with time,"and "stratified sampling" as well as for the use of multiple fields and collection of larger number of pseudoreplicates to overcome the high field variability in soil organic carbon (SOC) pools within each Major Land Resource Area (MLRA). The selected fields were representative of each MLRA in terms of soil type, slope, and management, but it is correct that a single soil would not capture all the variability in soil and management for the whole MLRA. This study was not intended to relate the data from the single soil to the whole MLRA but rather to emphasize the differences in SOC sequestration rates among the three management systems within each soil.
  • Authors:
    • Pisulewska, E.
    • Lepiarczyk, A.
    • Witkowicz, R.
  • Source: Fragmenta Agronomica
  • Volume: 26
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: In the present study the effect of rainfall and temperature on grain yield and its components as well on protein content and its yield of different forms of oat was evaluated. In addition, contribution of husks in covered forms of oat was determined. Weather conditions were analyzed taking into account the difference between actual rainfall and the rainfall requirement, the Sielianinow coefficients and the Gaussen-Walter diagrams. When compared with traditional oat, the yields of naked forms, observed in 2004 and 2005, depended to a larger extent on deficit of precipitations and were more decreased by rainfall deficit, particularly in April and May. In 2003, the amount of rainfall observed in these month met the rainfall requirement, with high excess of rainfall in May. In 2003, small differences in grain yield of studied forms of oat resulted from higher number of seeds in panicles of naked forms (notably cv. Akt) amounting to that found in traditional cv. Chwat. High protein content in oat grain and thus high protein yields could be achieved in 2005 as resulting from the smallest water deficits over the whole vegetation season.
  • Authors:
    • Ren, C.
    • Ma, B.
    • Zhao, G.
  • Source: Crop Science
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Nitrogen uptake and partitioning in oat ( Avena sativa L.) are not well documented. A greenhouse study was conducted to determine the critical timing of N supply on the growth, N uptake, and partitioning. Plants grown in plastic pots were subjected to five N fertilization regimes: (i) control, N supply from seedling to physiological maturity (PM); (ii) N supply from seedling to flag leaf; (iii) N supply from flag leaf to PM; (iv) N supply from seedling to heading; and (v) N supply from heading to PM. Leaf chlorophyll content, plant dry matter (DM), and N uptake and accumulation were measured. Total plant DM was 21% greater for naked 'VAO-2' than for covered 'Prescott', while both genotypes produced similar grain yields. Varietal differences in total plant N were significant ( P
  • Authors:
    • Zibilske, L.
    • Makus, D.
  • Source: Geoderma
  • Volume: 149
  • Issue: 3/4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: Management of a black oat ( Avena strigosa [Schreb.]) cover crop by mowing method (none, flail mowing, or sickle bar mowing) affected soil micro environmental conditions and soil microbial and chemical properties. Soil temperatures at depths of 0, 5, 10 and 20 cm were highest in flail mowed treatment plots (up to near 45°C at 5 cm depth), followed by sickle bar mowed plots (averaging 10°C lower at 5 cm depth). Lowest soil temperatures were maintained in plots that were not mowed; averaging 5°C lower at 5 cm depth than the sickle bar mowed plots. Increasing temperature convergence was observed below 5 cm, with the highest temperature (flail mowed treatment) at 32°C and the lowest (not mowed) at 27°C. Microbial biomass increased significantly ( P150 mg C kg -1 in the early fall. beta-glucosidase and alkaline phosphatase activities decreased slowly throughout the experiment, and were significantly greater ( P
  • Authors:
    • Florio, G.
    • Brigi, A.
    • Sandrini, S.
    • Bona, S.
    • Coletto, L.
    • Sambo, P.
  • Source: Proceedings of the Conference on integrated assessment of agriculture and sustainable development: Setting the Agenda for Science and Policy (AgSAP 2009), Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, 10-12 March 2009
  • Year: 2009
  • Authors:
    • Garcia, R.
    • Dornelles, M.
    • Lima, A.
    • Coelho, F.
    • Lima, E.
  • Source: Revista Ceres
  • Volume: 56
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The objective of this work was to evaluate a number of soybean agronomic characteristics in green manuring succession with two types of residue management. An experiment arranged in a complete randomized block design with four repetitions distributed in a split-plot scheme was carried out in Campos dos Goytacazes-RJ, in the agricultural year 2001/2002. The plots consisted of two managements (with and without clipping) and the subplots consisted of the cover species (black oat, millet, forage sorghum, teosinte, forage radish, dwarf velvet bean, white lupin, pigeonpea, and spontaneous vegetation). In the treatment without clipping, the mean grain yield of soybean in succession with black oat and spontaneous vegetation was 50% higher than the succession with dwarf velvet bean, millet, pigeonpea and forage sorghum. However, in the treatment with clipping, the mean grain yield in succession with millet, teosinte and spontaneous vegetation was 79% higher than the succession with lupin and dwarf velvet bean. The management of millet with mechanical clipping resulted in the increase of 1.154 kg ha -1 of soybean compared wih the treatment without management.
  • Authors:
    • Mozny, M.
    • Zalud, Z.
    • Dubrovsky, M.
    • Semeradova, D.
    • Trnka, M.
    • Hlavinka, P.
  • Source: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
  • Volume: 149
  • Issue: 3-4
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: The relationship between seasonal agricultural drought and detrended yields (within a period from 1961 to 2000) of selected crops was assessed in the conditions of the Czech Republic, which are to some extent representative of a wider area of Central Europe. Impact of water stress was analyzed using time series of yields for 8 crops (spring barley, winter wheat, grain maize, potato, winter rape, oats, winter rye and hay from permanent meadows) for 77 districts in the Czech Republic (average district area is 1025 km(2)). Relative version of Palmer's Z-index (rZ-index or rZ-i) was used as a tool for quantification of agricultural drought. The monthly values of the rZ-index for each individual district were calculated as the spatial average (only for the grids of arable land). The study showed that severe droughts (e.g., in 1981 and 2000) are linked with significant reduction in yields of the main cereals and majority of other crops through the most drought prone regions. We found a statistically significant correlation (p
  • Authors:
    • Monteiro, J. E. B. A.
  • Source: Agrometeorologia dos cultivos: o fator meteorológico na produção agrícola
  • Year: 2009
  • Summary: This book brings together a broad base of information on 32 major Brazilian agricultural crops and their relations with climate. The focus of the book is not on the methodologies and applications of agrometeorology per se, but rather restricts its focus to crops and traits that determine yield as a function of the environment. The crops included are rice, castor oil, sunflowers, pineapples, soyabeans, triticale, maize, potatoes, barley, peanuts, oats, onions, canola, wheat, cotton, beans, sugarcane, Pinus, black wattle ( Acacia mearnsii), tropical and temperate grapes, coconuts, citrus, bananas, sisal, cocoa, coffee, apples, Jatropha, Eucalyptus and the fodder plants Cynodon, Brachiaria and Panicum. The contents of the book are divided into three main parts, I. Introduction, II. Temporary crops and III. Permanent crops, with each chapter within parts II and III dedicated to a particular crop, and covering: (1) the main features of farming and phenology; (2) agrometeorological productivity constraints - water availability, temperature, solar radiation, photoperiod and wind; and (3) adverse events - hail and rainstorms, droughts and dry spells, winds and gales, frost, and too much rain and over-prolonged drought. The book was organized by the National Institute of Meteorology and had the collaboration of 105 researchers from 37 Brazilian institutions (federal and state), research centres, institutes and universities.