Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 15.1. Description of row cropping systems of the KBS LTER Main Cropping
System Experiment (MCSE) and Living Field Lab Experiment (LFL).
a
Experiment/System
Crop Rotation
Management
Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE)
Conventional (T1)
Corn-soybean-winter
wheat
Prevailing norm for tilled corn-soybean-winter
wheat rotation (c-s-w); standard chemical inputs,
chisel-plowed, no cover crop, no manure or compost
No-till (T2)
Corn-soybean-winter
wheat
Prevailing norm for no-till c-s-w; standard chemical
inputs, permanent no-till, no cover crop, no manure
or compost
Reduced Input (T3)
Corn-soybean-winter
wheat
Biologically based c-s-w managed to reduce
synthetic chemical inputs; chisel-plowed, winter
cover crop of red clover or annual rye, no manure or
compost
Biologically Based
(T4)
Corn-soybean-winter
wheat
Biologically based c-s-w managed without synthetic
chemical inputs; chisel-plowed, mechanical weed
control, winter cover crop of red clover or annual rye,
no manure or compost; certified organic
Alfalfa (T6)
Alfalfa
5- to 6-year rotation with wheat as a 1-year break crop
Living Field Lab Experiment (LFL)
Organic
One species—corn
Two species—corn with
cover crop
Three species—corn,
corn, soybean, winter
wheat
Six species—three
species rotation with
three cover crop
species
Biologically based without synthetic chemical inputs;
five entry points in annual rotation: continuous corn
and each of corn, corn, soybean, wheat (c-c-s-w);
winter cover crop(s) of crimson clover in two species
rotation and of crimson clover, annual rye, and red
clover in six species rotation; chisel-plowed; certified
organic practices; dairy compost; mechanical weed
control
Integrated
Conventional
Same as organic above
Biologically based with reduced synthetic chemical
inputs; same crop rotations as organic above;
chisel-plowed; targeted application of herbicides and
N fertilizer; mechanical weed control
a
Site codes that have been used throughout the project's history are given in parentheses. For further details, see
Robertson and Hamilton (2015, Chapter 1 in this volume).
excess fertilizer N include enhanced production of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide
(McSwiney and Robertson 2005, Hoben et al. 2011), promotion of invasive species
(Davis et al. 2000), accelerated changes in some soil organic matter pools (Grandy
et al. 2008), and contamination of ground and surface waters with attendant eutro-
phication (Hamilton 2015, Chapter 11 in this volume; Millar and Robertson 2015,
Chapter 9 in this volume).
Prior to the 1980s, row-crop agriculture was heavily reliant on tillage to pre-
pare the soil for planting and to manage weeds. Now a significant proportion of
row-crop land is under no-till production (Horowitz et al. 2010), due in part to the
use of herbicide-resistant crop varieties. No-till production practices allow farmers
