1 / 21

Effect of Tillage on Nitrogen Availability to Sugar Beets Years 1 & 2

Effect of Tillage on Nitrogen Availability to Sugar Beets Years 1 & 2. Amber Moore and David Tarkalson University of Idaho – Twin Falls USDA ARS - Kimberly. Introduction. Introduction of Round-up Ready sugar beets Weeds no longer controlled by cultivation

iokina
Download Presentation

Effect of Tillage on Nitrogen Availability to Sugar Beets Years 1 & 2

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Effect of Tillage on Nitrogen Availability to Sugar BeetsYears 1 & 2 Amber Moore and David Tarkalson University of Idaho – Twin Falls USDA ARS - Kimberly

  2. Introduction • Introduction of Round-up Ready sugar beets • Weeds no longer controlled by cultivation • Opportunities for conservation tillage methods, such as strip-till • No-till meets moldboard plow • Only disturbs portion of the soil that contains the seed. • Estimated 1800 acres of strip-till sugarbeets in Idaho in 2008

  3. Introduction • Advantages of strip till over moldboard plow • Reducing number of passes • Controls soil erosion • Water retention • Apply chemicals and fertilizers during tillage

  4. Introduction • Chisel plowing • Loosens the soil without inverting it • Residues are partially incorporated into the soil • Breaks into plow pan

  5. http://www.maes.msu.edu/ressta/saginawvalley/Pic_Tour/14C23chisel_plow.jpghttp://www.maes.msu.edu/ressta/saginawvalley/Pic_Tour/14C23chisel_plow.jpg

  6. Introduction • Concerns with strip till and chisel plowing • Organic matter lying on surface, no longer fully incorporated into the soil • Sugar beets highly sensitive to N release rates and release timing • Will reduction of carbon and aeration/mixing slow biological processes such as N mineralization? • Will reduction of carbon lower C:N ratios, thus speeding up N mineralization and slowing down immobilization? • Release of residue N

  7. Introduction • Tillage timing • Fall tillage • Allows incorporated residues time to decompose • Potentially less tie-up of N • Spring tillage • Can apply fertilizers and pesticides while tilling (for strip till) • Prevents soil erosion over winter (chisel plow and moldboard plow)

  8. Effect of Tillage on Nitrogen Availability to Sugar Beets • Project goal - To determine the effect of tillage method and tillage timing on nitrogen available to sugar beets following a cereal crop

  9. Experimental design • Tillage study at USDA-ARS Kimberly • David Tarkalson and Dave Bjorneberg • Three tillage methods • Strip till (ST) • Chisel plow (CP) • Moldboard plow (MP) • Two tillage times • Fall and spring • Five fertilizer N rates, including a control

  10. Moldboard Plow

  11. Chisel Plow

  12. Strip Till

  13. Figure 3. Effect of tillage treatment and timing for soil carbon content at a one-foot depth for a Portneuf silt loam at planting, averaged over 2008 and 2009 and over nitrogen rates. CP = Chisel plow, ST = Strip-till, MB = Moldboard plow.

  14. Conclusion • It seems that tillage method and timing are more likely to impact nitrogen mineralization in growth limiting environments (lower N, higher C, etc.). • Spring plowed and chisel-plowed soils show the greatest increase in carbon compared to fall plowed and moldboard or strip-tilled soils

  15. Thank you!

More Related