• Authors:
    • Shrivastava, A. K.
    • Satyendra, J
  • Source: Agricultural Engineering International
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: A tractor drawn (TD) till plant machine was designed and developed with the help of computer aided design package for adoption of minimum till technology by the farmers, in black cotton soil conditions. This machine was evaluated and compared with the performance of a zero till drill and conventional practices at Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University farms as well as at a farmer's fields. It was found that the total time and cost required for tillage and sowing operations by till plant machine was 5.09 h/ha and Rs. 410.37/ha, which is 72.23 per cent less time required than conventional practices of wheat cultivation but is 28.83 per cent more time required than zero till drill practices. The average yield by tractor till plant machine was 26.96 q/ha, whereas, by conventional practices and tractor drawn zero till drill was 25.91 and 22.72 q/ha. respectively. The soil conditions were also found better in the case of the T.D. till plant machine.
  • Authors:
    • Mahapatra, B. S.
    • Saini, S. K.
    • Shweta
    • Singh, R. K.
  • Source: Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences
  • Volume: 81
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: To ameliorate the ill effects of traditional rice-wheat cropping system efforts have been made to develop several resource conservation technologies. Conventional method of wheat sowing requires intensive pre-planting cultivation, which are labour, time and energy intensive. The field experiment was conducted at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar during rainy season of 2005-06 to winter season of 2006-07. Maximum mean grain (4 237 kg/ha) and straw (6 235 kg/ha) yields of wheat were obtained from direct-seeded rice plots. Nutrient uptake (NPK) by the wheat crop was highest under direct-seeded rice due to rice establishment methods. Maximum mean grain (4 535 kg/ha) and straw (6 423 kg/ha) yields were obtained under zero till. The mean wheat grains/spike under zero till drill wheat was 0.79, 6.93 and 4.09% more than that of strip till drill, bed planted and conventional wheat, respectively. Zero till drill wheat exhibited significantly higher nutrient uptake than that of conventional, bed planted and strip till drill wheat.
  • Authors:
    • Silveira, F. de M.
    • Silva, E. D. B. da
    • Pauletti, V.
    • Favaretto, N.
    • Vezzani, F. M.
    • Dieckow, J.
  • Source: Revista Brasileira de Ciencia do Solo
  • Volume: 35
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The use of manure in agricultural system is a possibility to dispose of the waste generated in animal production, but improper use can cause environmental problems. The general objective of this study was to evaluate carbon and nitrogen concentrations and losses in runoff in four doses of liquid dairy manure (0, 60, 120, 180 m 3 ha -1 yr -1) applied to a silt clay loam Oxisol with 13% slope, in no-till with soybean, oat, corn, and wheat in crop rotation. The runoff was collected for two years and seven months in 60 L containers after every rain with runoff from at least one plot. Soluble nutrients were analyzed in runoff samples filtered through a 0.45 m membrane and total nutrients in unfiltered samples. The application of liquid dairy manure reduced the losses of organic carbon and nitrogen, with positive consequences for water quality. However, higher rates tended to increase the concentrations of these elements and, consequently, reduce water quality. The weighted average concentrations of nitrate were below the limit allowed by Brazilian legislation, but ammonium exceeded the threshold values, indicating the need of control measures to prevent the runoff from reaching the water bodies, even in no-tillage systems. It should be pointed out that these data were obtained under low potential polluting conditions, i.e, on 13% slope, low rainfall and with a minimum interval of ten days between manure application and rainfall. Further studies should also evaluate nitrate leaching.
  • Authors:
    • Perello, A. E.
    • Moreno, V.
    • Chidichimo, H. O.
    • Terrile, I. I.
    • Simon, M. R.
    • Ayala, F. M.
    • Golik, S. I.
    • Cordo, C. A.
  • Source: Agronomy Journal
  • Volume: 103
  • Issue: 5
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Zero tillage often leads to wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) yield losses from diseases caused by necrotrophic foliar pathogens. The aim of this work was to evaluate the combined effect of tillage, N fertilization, fungicides, and resistant cultivars in reducing foliar disease severity to prevent significant yield losses. A 2-yr study including combinations of (i) conventional and zero tillage; (ii) N fertilization rates 0, 80, or 160 kg ha -1 N; (iii) two fungicide treatments (with and without a fungicide (1 L of metconazole, 9%)) at growth stages (GS) 32 and 39; and (iv) three wheat cultivars was conducted in the Rolling Pampas region in Argentina. The most common foliar disease in the trial was tan spot [ Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Died.) Drechs.]. Conventional tillage reduced foliar disease severity at GS 23 by 46 and 56% and the area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) by 20 and 14% for each season, respectively compared with zero tillage. The cultivar Buck Bigua had significantly lower AUDPC values than the others. Fungicide and N application reduced disease severity at GS 23 by 35 and 34% respectively, on average over both years. Disease was less severe in zero tillage plots which received a fungicide compared to conventional tillage plots that were not treated with fungicide. In 2002 yields were greater in conventional tillage plots with 160 kg ha -1 N and fungicide application than in all other treatments. In 2003 yields were greatest in zero tillage plots with 160 kg ha -1 N and fungicide. The results of this study indicate that in spite of the increase of necrotrophic diseases, developing no-till systems in wheat monoculture is possible without significant yield losses if effective disease management practices are applied.
  • Authors:
    • Sims, B. G.
    • Eliis-Jones, J.
  • Source: Agriculture for Development
  • Issue: 14
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: This paper describes the experience of one successful no-till farm in the UK. It highlights the improved wheat yields and reduced production costs the farm has achieved over time since implementing no till; describes how it achieves no till planting and weed control; and discusses the benefits to the soil and the other environmental benefits associated with no till.
  • Authors:
    • Sousa, D.
    • Rein, T.
  • Source: Better Crops with Plant Food
  • Volume: 95
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The authors review recommended practices for evaluating and managing liming and fertilizer use for high yielding annual crops growing under no-till (NT) cultivation within the Cerrado.
  • Authors:
    • Maul, J. E.
    • Meisinger, J. J.
    • Cavigelli, M. A.
    • Spargo, J. T.
    • Mirsky, S. B.
  • Source: Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems
  • Volume: 90
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Sustainable soil fertility management depends on long-term integrated strategies that build and maintain soil organic matter and mineralizable soil N levels. These strategies increase the portion of crop N needs met by soil N and reduce dependence on external N inputs required for crop production. To better understand the impact of management on soil N dynamics, we conducted field and laboratory research on five diverse management systems at a long-term study in Maryland, the USDA- Agricultural Research Service Beltsville Farming Systems Project (FSP). The FSP is comprised of a conventional no-till corn ( Zea mays L.)-soybean ( Glycine max L.)-wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.)/double-crop soybean rotation (NT), a conventional chisel-till corn-soybean-wheat/soybean rotation (CT), a 2 year organic corn-soybean rotation (Org2), a 3 year organic corn-soybean-wheat rotation (Org3), and a 6 year organic corn-soybean-wheat-alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) (3 years) rotation (Org6). We found that total potentially mineralizable N in organic systems (average 315 kg N ha -1) was significantly greater than the conventional systems (average 235 kg N ha -1). Particulate organic matter (POM)-C and -N also tended to be greater in organic than conventional cropping systems. Average corn yield and N uptake from unamended (minus N) field microplots were 40 and 48%, respectively, greater in organic than conventional grain cropping systems. Among the three organic systems, all measures of N availability tended to increase with increasing frequency of manure application and crop rotation length (Org2 < Org3 ≤ Org6) while most measures were similar between NT and CT. Our results demonstrate that organic soil fertility management increases soil N availability by increasing labile soil organic matter. Relatively high levels of mineralizable soil N must be considered when developing soil fertility management plans for organic systems.
  • Authors:
    • Shah, Z.
    • Stromberger, M. E.
    • Westfall, D. G.
  • Source: Soil Biology and Biochemistry
  • Volume: 43
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: The need to identify microbial community parameters that predict microbial activity is becoming more urgent, due to the desire to manage microbial communities for ecosystem services as well as the desire to incorporate microbial community parameters within ecosystem models. In dryland agroecosystems, microbial biomass C (MBC) can be increased by adopting alternative management strategies that increase crop residue retention, nutrient reserves, improve soil structure and result in greater water retention. Changes in MBC could subsequently affect microbial activities related to decomposition, C stabilization and sequestration. We hypothesized that MBC and potential microbial activities that broadly relate to decomposition (basal and substrate-induced respiration, N mineralization, and beta-glucosidase and arylsulfatase enzyme activities) would be similarly affected by no-till, dryland winter wheat rotations distributed along a potential evapotranspiration (PET) gradient in eastern Colorado. Microbial biomass was smaller in March 2004 than in November 2003 (417 vs. 231 g g -1 soil), and consistently smaller in soils from the high PET soil (191 g g -1) than in the medium and low PET soils (379 and 398 g g -1, respectively). Among treatments, MBC was largest under perennial grass (398 g g -1). Potential microbial activities did not consistently follow the same trends as MBC, and the only activities significantly correlated with MBC were beta-glucosidase ( r=0.61) and substrate-induced respiration ( r=0.27). In contrast to MBC, specific microbial activities (expressed on a per MBC basis) were greatest in the high PET soils. Specific but not total activities were correlated with microbial community structure, which was determined in a previous study. High specific activity in low biomass, high PET soils may be due to higher microbial maintenance requirements, as well as to the unique microbial community structure (lower bacterial-to-fungal fatty acid ratio and lower 17:0 cy-to-16:1omega7c stress ratio) associated with these soils. In conclusion, microbial biomass should not be utilized as the sole predictor of microbial activity when comparing soils with different community structures and levels of physiological stress, due to the influence of these factors on specific activity.
  • Authors:
    • Kravchenko, A. N.
    • Mokma, D. L.
    • Corbin, A. T.
    • Syswerda, S. P.
    • Robertson, G. P.
  • Source: Soil Science Society of America Journal
  • Volume: 75
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Soil C sequestration research has historically focused on the top 0 to 30 cm of the soil profile, ignoring deeper portions that might also respond to management. In this study we sampled soils along a 10-treatment management intensity gradient to a 1-m depth to test the hypothesis that C gains in surface soils are offset by losses lower in the profile. Treatments included four annual cropping systems in a corn ( Zea mays)-soybean ( Glycine max)-wheat ( Triticum aestivum) rotation, perennial alfalfa ( Medicago sativa) and poplar ( Populus * euramericana), and four unmanaged successional systems. The annual grain systems included conventionally tilled, no-tillage, reduced-input, and organic systems. Unmanaged treatments included a 12-yr-old early successional community, two 50-yr-old mid-successional communities, and a mature forest never cleared for agriculture. All treatments were replicated three to six times and all cropping systems were 12 yr post-establishment when sampled. Surface soil C concentrations and total C pools were significantly greater under no-till, organic, early successional, never-tilled mid-successional, and deciduous forest systems than in the conventionally managed cropping system ( p≤0.05, n=3-6 replicate sites). We found no consistent differences in soil C at depth, despite intensive sampling (30-60 deep soil cores per treatment). Carbon concentrations in the B/Bt and Bt2/C horizons were lower and two and three times more variable, respectively, than in surface soils. We found no evidence for C gains in the surface soils of no-till and other treatments to be either offset or magnified by carbon change at depth.
  • Authors:
    • Zhang, W.
    • Zheng, J.
    • Deng, A.
    • Chen, J.
    • Tian, Y.
  • Source: Acta Agronomica Sinica
  • Volume: 37
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2011
  • Summary: Climate warming presents significantly asymmetric trends with greatly seasonal and diurnal differences, greater temperature elevations existing in the winter-spring season than in the summer-autumn season and at the nighttime than at the daytime. To date, this is till lack of evidence about the effects of asymmetric warming on the quality of winter-wheat grain based on field experiments. Here, we performed field warming experiment under free air temperature increased (FATI) facility to investigate the impacts of asymmetric warming on the contents and components of starch and protein in winter-wheat grain during 2007-2009 in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China. The results showed that the all-day warming (AW), daytime warming (DW), and nighttime warming (NW) treatments significantly advanced the grain-filling stage and changed the appearance time and days of high temperature above 32degreesC in grain-filling stage, consequently resulting in obvious changes of starch component, protein content and protein components. Treatments AW, DW, and NW had no significant impact on the starch content of winter-wheat grain but tended to increase the ratio of amylose content to amylopectin content. The highest values of the ratio of amylose content to amylopectin content existed in the DW plots which were 6.9% and 46.2% higher than those in the control plots in the two years, respectively. The content of grain protein was significantly decreased by warming with the content order of CK > DW > NW > AW. Warming decreased the grain protein contents by 9.1%, 5.4%, and 6.9%, respectively in the AW, DW, and NW treatments on average of the two years. The effects of warming on grain protein components were complicated. However, DW showed a regular impact on protein components. The two-year result showed that the lowest content of albumin and the greatest content of globulin occurred in the DW plot with the lowest ratio of glutelin content to gliadin content. All these results demonstrate that the effects of asymmetric climate warming on the quality of winter-wheat grain are complicated with significant differences among warming patterns and experimental years.