• Authors:
    • Trawczynski, C.
  • Source: Journal of Research and Applications in Agricultural Engineering
  • Volume: 55
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The aim of this investigation was to determine balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in organic crop rotation system on light soil. The crop rotation comprised following agricultural plant species: potato, oat, yellow lupine, rye, phacelia. Apart from these main species 3 plants were cultivated as intercrop: field pea, white mustard, serradella. Before potato cultivation the manure in dose of 25 t.ha -1 was applied. The calculations were based on real data of obtained yields and nutrients content in the yields. The "on surface of field" method was used in this investigation. In the crop rotation positive balance of nitrogen (+20,4 kg N.ha -1 per year -1) and slightly negative one for phosphorus (-3,1 kg P.ha -1 per year -1) and potassium (-4,5 kg K.ha -1 per year -1) were noted.
  • Authors:
    • Gross, J. R.
    • Tanaka, D. L.
    • Liebig, M. A.
  • Source: Soil Science Society of America Journal
  • Volume: 74
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The inclusion of cover crops during fallow (i.e., green fallow) may mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from dryland cropping systems. An investigation was conducted to quantify the effects of chemical and green fallow on soil organic C (SOC) and CO2, CH4, and N2O flux within spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow (chemical fallow) and spring wheat-safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)-rye (Secale cereale L.) (green fallow) under no-till management in west-central North Dakota. Using static chamber methodology, flux measurements were made during 19 mo of the fallow period of each cropping system. Soil samples collected before initiation of flux measurements indicated no difference in SOC in the surface 10 cm between cropping systems. Additionally, differences in gas flux between cropping systems were few. Emission of CO2 was greater under green fallow than chemical fallow during spring thaw until the termination of rye (P = 0.0071). Uptake of atmospheric CH4 was the dominant exchange process during the evaluation period, and was significantly (P = 0.0124) greater under chemical fallow (-2.7 g CH4-C ha-1 d-1) than green fallow (-1.5 g CH4-C ha-1 d-1) following the termination of rye. Cumulative fluxes of CO2, CH4, and N2O did not differ between the chemical- and green-fallow phases during the 19-mo period (P = 0.1293, 0.2629, and 0.9979, respectively). The results from this evaluation suggest there was no net GHG benefit from incorporating a rye cover crop during the fallow phase of a dryland cropping system under no-till management.
  • Authors:
    • Wrigley, C. W.
    • Batey, I. L.
  • Source: Cereal grains: assessing and managing quality
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: This book provides a convenient and comprehensive overview of academic research and industry best practice in the assessment and management of cereal grain quality. It includes 18 chapters and 2 appendices organized into 5 parts. Part I (3 chapters) introduces the themes of the book, reviews cereal grain morphology and composition, and discusses the diversity of uses of cereal grains. Part II (7 chapters) describes the characteristics and quality requirements of particular cereals, including wheat, rye, triticale, barley, oats, maize, rice, sorghum and millets. Part III (3 chapters) covers the use of analytical methods at different stages of the value-addition chain. It discusses the analysis of grain quality at receival, identification of grain variety and quality type, and food safety aspects of grain and cereal product quality. Part IV (5 chapters) reviews the factors affecting grain quality, such as breeding, storage and grain processing, and discusses possible future developments. Part V includes appendices on the composition of grains and grain products and the equivalence between metric and US units for the grain industry. This book will be a valuable reference for all those involved in the production and processing of cereal grains worldwide.
  • Authors:
    • Chen, C.
    • Xu, Z.
    • Wu, H.
    • Zhou, X.
  • Source: Proceedings of the 19th World Congress of Soil Science: Soil solutions for a changing world, Brisbane, Australia, 1-6 August 2010. Working Group 3.5 Paddy soils and water scarcity
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Winter cover crops are not only one of effective agricultural management practices to control weeds but also can improve soil fertility, resulting in increasing crop productions. Up to now, however, little is known about information on how much of soil soluble organic carbon (C) incorporates into the soils applied with winter cover crops, which is a prerequisite to design strategies that improve C sequestration in agricultural ecosystems. The aims of this study were to: (1) assess the effects of winter cover crops on soluble organic carbon (SOC) pools using different extraction methods (KCl extractable organic C; microbial biomass) and microbial community functional diversity, and (2) quantify how much of the potentially mineralizable organic C pools (C 0) incorporates into the soils and associated half-life of SOC remaining under seven cover crops and nil-crop control (CK) in temperate agricultural soils of southern Australia. Cover crop treatments are cereal rye, wheat, saia oats, vetch, field peas, mustard and the mixture of cereal rye and vetch. Results showed that the CK treatment had higher soil moisture content and lower soluble organic nitrogen (SON) compared to the cover crop treatments. Among the cover crop treatments, there was significantly higher SON in the wheat, oats and vetch treatments than in the other treatments. The oats treatment had the highest amount of cumulative CO 2-C than any other treatments over one-month incubation experiment. An exponential regression approach for C mineralization was used to estimate C o and soil samples under the cover crops can be divided into four groups depending on C o. The principal component analysis of the MicroResp TM profiles showed that the CK treatment was significantly different from the cover crop treatments. The cover crop treatments with wheat, vetch and peas as well as mustard form a cluster which was significantly different from the other clusters. In addition, the vetch, field peas and mustard treatments showed higher Shannon diversity H and Evenness (E) and Simpson diversity H compared to the other cover crop treatments with the lowest Shannon H and E at CK. In conclusion, overall, the vetch and field peas as well as wheat winter cover crop may be better management practices for agricultural ecosystems in southern Australia.
  • Authors:
    • Sun, Y.
    • Dowd, S.
    • Acosta-Martinez, V.
    • Wester, D.
    • Allen, V.
  • Source: Applied Soil Ecology
  • Volume: 45
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Bacterial tag-encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing of the 16S rDNA gene was used to evaluate bacterial diversity of a clay loam soil (fine, mixed, thermic Torrertic Paleustolls) after 10 years under an integrated livestock (beef)-cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) production system compared to continuous cotton in a semiarid region. In the integrated system, cattle alternatively grazed a perennial warm-season grass [ Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz) S.T. Blake] paddock and small grains grown in two paddocks of a wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.)-fallow-rye ( Secale cereal L.)-cotton rotation. Areas excluded from grazing in the integrated system were also evaluated. Maximum observed number of unique sequences operational taxonomic units (OTU) at 3% dissimilarity level (roughly corresponding to the species level) corresponded to 1200 and 1100 at 0-5 and 5-15 cm depths, respectively. Predominant phyla (up to 65% of abundance) at 0-5 and 5-15 cm in this soil were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Gemmatimonadetes. Proteobacteria were predominant in soil under all components of the integrated livestock-cotton system compared to continuous cotton whereas Bacteroidetes were predominant under continuous cotton. Firmicutes (i.e., Clostridia) and Chlorofexi (i.e., Thermomicrobia) were more abundant in soil under fallow periods of the rotation compared to under cotton (Rye- Cotton-Wheat-Fallow or continuous cotton) or grass (i.e., pasture). The lowest OTUs were detected in soil under fallow periods of the rotation (Wheat- Fallow-Rye-Cotton) compared to the other treatments. Grazing effects were significant for Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Chlorofexi. Compared to the continuous cotton system, this study revealed significant changes in bacterial phyla distribution under integrated livestock-cotton systems for a semiarid soil after 10 years. Positive correlations were found between certain bacteria ( Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, Verrucomicrobiae and Fibrobacteres) and the activities of alkaline phosphatase and beta-glucosidase or beta-glucosaminidase.
  • Authors:
    • Gamzatov, I.
    • Muslimov, M.
  • Source: Kormoproizvodstvo
  • Issue: 12
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Continuous green fodder conveyor production system allows quality fodder supply during the grazing season. Field trials were conducted in Dagestan, the North Caucasus, Russia, with Red Steppe cattle. Data are tabulated on sowing dates and period of use of fodder crops, i.e. natural pastures, winter rape, winter rye + winter vetch, pea-oat + vetch-oat, regrowth of perennial grasses after hay cutting, Sudan grass, maize and maize + Sudan grass, sorghum, regrowth of Sudan grass and sorghum, maize sown after winter cereals grown for green fodder, maize and sorghum grown for silage for additional feed rations, winter rye after pea + oat, squash, pumpkin, fodder watermelon and fodder beet, and regrowth of natural pastures and meadows. The importance of natural pastures and drought resistant plants, such as sorghum crops, for production of high yield of fodder in dry conditions of Dagestan is considered.
  • Authors:
    • Bradford, S.
    • Crohn, D.
    • Poss, J.
    • Shouse, P.
    • Segal, E.
  • Source: Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
  • Volume: 137
  • Issue: 3/4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: A nutrient management plan (NMP) field experiment was conducted to investigate the fate of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and salts in a semi-arid environment (San Jacinto, CA). Our mechanistic approach to study NMP performance was based on comprehensive measurements of water and N mass balance in the root zone. A cereal crop rotation (wheat-rye hybrid to sorghum, Triticum aestivum L.- Secale cereale L. to Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) that does not fix atmospheric N was employed during 2007, whereas a legume crop (alfalfa, Medicago sativa L.) that forms nodules to fix N was used in 2008. Blending (2007 and 2008) and cyclic (2007) dairy wastewater (DWW) application strategies (no statistical difference in 2007) were implemented to meet crop water and N uptake. The high content of salts in DWW and accurate application of water to meet evapotranspiration ( ET) yielded salt accumulation in the root zone. Leaching these salts after the fallow period resulted in the flushing of nitrate that had accumulated in the root zone due to continuous mineralization of soil organic N. This observation suggested that a conservative NMP should account for mineralization of organic N by (i) leaching salts following harvests rather than prior to planting and (ii) maintaining soils with low values of organic N. For the wheat-rye hybrid-sorghum rotation, losses of nitrate below the root zone were minimal and the soil organic N reservoir and P were depleted over time by applying only a fraction of the plant N uptake with DWW (28-48%) and using DWW that was treated to reduce the fraction of organic N (3-10%), whereas K accumulated similar to other salts. Conversely, with alfalfa approximately 15% of the applied N was leached below the root zone and the soil organic N increased during the growing season. These observations were attributed to fixation of atmospheric N, increased root density, and applying a higher fraction of plant N uptake with DWW (76%). Collectively, our results indicate that NMPs should accurately account for water and nutrient mass balances, and salt accumulation to be protective of the environment.
  • Authors:
    • Bidders, C. L.
    • Laloy, E.
  • Source: Journal of Environmental Quality
  • Volume: 39
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The management of winter cover crops is likely to influence their performance in reducing runoff and erosion during the intercropping period that precedes spring crops but also during the subsequent spring crop This study investigated the impact of two dates of destruction and burial of a rye (Secale cereale L.) and ryegrass (Lolium multifloruni Lint) cover crop on runoff and erosion, focusing on a continuous silage maize (Zea mays L) cropping system Thirty erosion plots with various intercrop management options were monitored for 3 yr at two sues. During the intercropping period. cover crops reduced runoff and erosion by more than 94% compared with muffled, post-maize harvest plots Rough tillage after maize harvest proved equally effective as a late sown cover crop There was no effect of cover crop destruction and burial dates on runoff and erosion during the intercropping period. probably because rough tillage for cover crop burial compensates for the lack of soil cover During two of the monitored maize seasons. it was observed that plots that had been covered during the previous intercropping period lost 40 to 90% less soil compared with maize plots that had been left bare during the intercropping period The burial of an aboveground cover crop biomass in excess of 1 5 t ha (1) was a necessary, yet not always sufficient. condition to induce a residual effect. Because of the possible beneficial residual effect of cover crop burial on erosion reduction, the sowing of a cover crop should be preferred over rough tillage after maize harvest
  • Authors:
    • Honeycutt, C. W.
    • Griffin, T. S.
    • Larkin, R. P.
  • Source: Plant Disease
  • Volume: 94
  • Issue: 12
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Seven different 2-year rotations, consisting of barley/clover, canola, green bean, millet/rapeseed, soybean, sweet corn, and potato, all followed by potato, were assessed over 10 years (1997-2006) in a long-term cropping system trial for their effects on the development of soilborne potato diseases, tuber yield, and soil microbial communities. These same rotations were also assessed with and without the addition of a fall cover crop of no-tilled winter rye (except for barley/clover, for which underseeded ryegrass was substituted for clover) over a 4-year period. Canola and rapeseed rotations consistently reduced the severity of Rhizoctonia canker, black scurf, and common scab (18 to 38% reduction), and canola rotations resulted in higher tuber yields than continuous potato or barley/clover (6.8 to 8.2% higher). Addition of the winter rye cover crop further reduced black scurf and common scab (average 12.5 and 7.2% reduction, respectively) across all rotations. The combined effect of a canola or rapeseed rotation and winter rye cover crop reduced disease severity by 35 to 41% for black scurf and 20 to 33% for common scab relative to continuous potato with no cover crop. Verticillium wilt became a prominent disease problem only after four full rotation cycles, with high disease levels in all plots; however, incidence was lowest in barley rotations. Barley/clover and rapeseed rotations resulted in the highest soil bacterial populations and microbial activity, and all rotations had distinct effects on soil microbial community characteristics. Addition of a cover crop also resulted in increases in bacterial populations and microbial activity and had significant effects on soil microbial characteristics, in addition to slightly improving tuber yield (4% increase). Thus, in addition to positive effects in reducing erosion and improving soil quality, effective crop rotations in conjunction with planting cover crops can provide improved control of soilborne diseases. However, this study also demonstrated limitations with 2-year rotations in general, because all rotations resulted in increasing levels of common scab and Verticillium wilt over time.
  • Authors:
    • Jauhiainen, L.
    • Peltonen-Sainio, P.
  • Source: Agricultural and Food Science
  • Volume: 19
  • Issue: 4
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The balance between applied and harvested nitrogen (yield removed nitrogen, YRN %) is a recognized indicator of the risk of N leaching. In this study we monitored the genetic improvements and environmental variability as well as differences among crop species (spring cereals and rapeseed) in YRN in order to characterize changes that have occurred and environmental constraints associated with reducing N leaching into the environment. MTT long-term multi-location field experiments for spring cereals (Hordeum vulgare L., Avena sativa L. and Triticum aestivum L.), turnip rape (Brassica rapa L.), and oilseed rape (B. napus L.) were conducted in 1988-2008, covering each crop's main production regions. Yield (kg ha(-1)) was recorded and grain/seed nitrogen content (N(grain), g kg(-1)) analyzed. Total yield N (N(yield), kg ha(-1)) was determined and YRN (%) was calculated as a ratio between applied and harvested N. A mixed model was used to separate genetic and environmental effects. Year and location had marked effects on YRN and N(yield). Average early and/or late season precipitation was often most advantageous for N(yield) in cereals, while in dry seasons N uptake is likely restricted and in rainy seasons N leaching is often severe. Elevated temperatures during early and/or late growth phases had more consistent, negative impacts on YRN and/or N(yield) for all crops, except oilseed rape. In addition to substantial variability caused by the environment, it was evident that genetic improvements in YRN have taken place. Hence, YRN can be improved by cultivar selection and through favouring crops with high YRN such as oat in crop rotations.