Dennis Baker, Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent
Objective: To compare the effects of four long-term soil management programs on the yields of soybeans.
Background |
|
| Site:
Nearest Town: Major Soil Types: Drainage: Previous Crop: Row Width: Variety: Planting Date: Seeding Rate: Soil Test Levels: |
Darke County Farm
Greenville Lippincott & Eldean-Miami Subsurface Corn 30 in. Countrymark 3685 May 7 165,000/ac pH 6.5 P 87 ppm K 248 ppm |
| Fertilizer Applied: | 100 lbs. 0-0-60
125 lbs. 0-46-0 |
| Harvest Date: | Oct. 21 |
These plots were established in the summer of 1997 after the wheat crop. Soil was tested for nutrients in three locations in each of 12 plots. Soil-test values listed above indicate a field average taken in October of 1996. Crop rotation is wheat (1997), corn (1998), and soybeans (1999). Plots will be nutrient tested again, and soil-quality testing will be done after wheat is harvested in 2000.
Plots were planted and analyzed in a complete randomized design with three replications of the treatments. The cover crop treatment is residue from a single winter rye planted in the fall after wheat harvest. The rye cover crop was killed using 1 qt/acre Roundup. The manure treatment is straw manure from beef cattle applied in the fall of 1998. All fertilizer was broadcast using dry fertilizer with a standard 50' spread fertilizer buggy on April 1, 1999, prior to spring tillage on all treatments except the manure plots. All plots were lightly disked in spring of 1999 except for the no-till treatment. The soybeans were planted with a Buffalo slot planter.
| Chiseled | 50.857 bu/acre a |
| No-till | 46.720 bu/acre a |
| Manure | 46.583 bu/acre a |
| Cover-crop | 45.240 bu/acre a |
| F < 1, NS (no significant differences among treatment means),
lsd (0.05) = 9.974, cv = 11.2%. |
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No significant differences in soybean yields were found among the four soil management treatments. Hairy vetch is planned to be included in the cover crop treatment after wheat in 2000.
For further information contact:
Ohio State University Extension, Darke County
700 Wayne St.
Greenville, OH 45331
937-548-5215
baker.5@osu.edu