Tuesday, November 6, 2007
163-5

Long-Term Yield Responses to Crop Rotation and Tillage in Northeast Kansas.

Dallas Peterson, Kansas State University, Kansas State University, 2014 Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-5504 and Kraig L. Roozeboom, 2004 Throckmorton Plt. Sci. Ctr., Kansas State University - Agronomy, Kansas State University, Dept. of Agronomy, Manhattan, KS 66506-5501.

An experiment examining two-year crop rotations and three tillage systems was initiated near Manhattan, Kansas in 1974. The study includes soybean (SB), grain sorghum (GS), and wheat (WT) in continuous various two-year sequences: SB/SB, SB/WT, SB/GS, GS/GS, GS/SB, WT/WT, WT/SB. All crop rotations contain three tillage systems: conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), and no-tillage (NT). The 2007 growing season represents the 33rd consecutive year of data collection from this study, providing an excellent opportunity to summarize and examine the long-term effects of crop rotation and tillage and how they interact. For soybean, no-till has resulted in the greatest yield on average, but the largest response to no-till has occurred when soybean was rotated with sorghum. The greatest soybean yield has occurred in rotation with wheat, but rotation with sorghum also has increased yield compared to continuous soybean. Grain sorghum has responded in a similar manner with greatest yields in no-till rotation with soybean. Grain sorghum yields have decreased slightly with no-till in a continuous grain sorghum rotation. Decreased yields in continuous no-till sorghum are likely because of fall panicum infestations. Wheat yields are least in continuous no-till wheat, probably due to downy brome infestations and planting difficulties. Wheat yields are greatest in a soybean-wheat rotation. More than 30 years of experimental results indicate that crop rotation provides yield benefits and is essential with no-till. In general, no-till crops grown in rotation provided the greatest yields over the entire period. The benefits of no-till for crop yields were most pronounced in dry years.