TY - JOUR
T1 - Strip-tillage decreases soil nitrogen availability and increases the potential for N losses in a cover cropped organic system
AU - Lowry, Carolyn J.
AU - Robertson, G. Philip
AU - Brainard, Daniel C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part through funding from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program (Project no. GNC10-141 ), MSU AgBioResearch Project GREEEN (Project no. GR12-387 ), the Ceres Trust Organic Research Initiative , the USDA-OREI Program (Award no. 2014-05381 ), and the National Science Foundation Long-term Ecological Research Program (DEB 1832042 ). Dr. Lowry was also funded by two Michigan State University awards: the University Distinguished Fellowship and Ecological Food and Farming Specialization Fellowship. We thank Corey Noyes, Joe Simmons, Kevin Kahmark, Todd Martin, Erin Haramoto, and Zack Hayden for technical advice and assistance. We also thank Alexis Snyder, Heather Eifert, Sam Peck, Nate Robinson, Frank Horton, Hannah Gray, and Max Kokmeyer for assistance with data collection and field maintenance.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/10/1
Y1 - 2021/10/1
N2 - Reduced-tillage systems that augment soil inorganic N availability while reducing N losses can improve the nitrogen-use efficiency of cover crop-based organic cropping systems. We conducted a three year full factorial field experiment in the upper Midwest, USA to examine the effects of strip-tillage and a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop mixture on (1) soil inorganic nitrogen (N) concentrations throughout the growing season, (2) sweet corn (Zea mays L.) crop productivity and N uptake, and (3) potential N loss via denitrification and leaching. We compared full-width tillage (FWT) vs. strip-tillage (ST) with and without a rye-vetch cover crop. ST decreased soil inorganic N concentrations 16–40% compared to FWT, with soil inorganic N higher in the tilled in-row zone compared to the undisturbed between-row zone in 1 of 3 years. The rye-vetch cover crop did not provide a consistent increase in soil inorganic N. ST increased soil leachate N concentrations by ~50% and increased the potential for denitrification by 18% but depressed sweet corn biomass and N contents in only one of three years, when hairy vetch biomass and soil moisture was lowest. We conclude that utilizing ST in combination with a cover crop is not likely to improve N use efficiency or crop yields, and may increase N losses within an organic cover crop-based cropping system.
AB - Reduced-tillage systems that augment soil inorganic N availability while reducing N losses can improve the nitrogen-use efficiency of cover crop-based organic cropping systems. We conducted a three year full factorial field experiment in the upper Midwest, USA to examine the effects of strip-tillage and a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop mixture on (1) soil inorganic nitrogen (N) concentrations throughout the growing season, (2) sweet corn (Zea mays L.) crop productivity and N uptake, and (3) potential N loss via denitrification and leaching. We compared full-width tillage (FWT) vs. strip-tillage (ST) with and without a rye-vetch cover crop. ST decreased soil inorganic N concentrations 16–40% compared to FWT, with soil inorganic N higher in the tilled in-row zone compared to the undisturbed between-row zone in 1 of 3 years. The rye-vetch cover crop did not provide a consistent increase in soil inorganic N. ST increased soil leachate N concentrations by ~50% and increased the potential for denitrification by 18% but depressed sweet corn biomass and N contents in only one of three years, when hairy vetch biomass and soil moisture was lowest. We conclude that utilizing ST in combination with a cover crop is not likely to improve N use efficiency or crop yields, and may increase N losses within an organic cover crop-based cropping system.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2021.107524
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2021.107524
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107629460
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 319
JO - Agro-Ecosystems
JF - Agro-Ecosystems
M1 - 107524
ER -