Monday, 20 June 2005 - 1:45 PM
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This presentation is part of 6: Soils--SOC, Production, and Environmental

Correlation of Spatially Variable Corn Yield and Soil Characteristics in the Mississippi Delta.

M. W. Ebelhar, Delta Research and Extension Center, P. O. Box 197, Stoneville, MS 38776 and D. R. Clark, Delta Research and Extension Center, P. O. Box 197, Stoneville, MS 38776.

Producers continue to encounter and adapt new technologies for optimizing farm production. Site-specific management utilizes the latest computer technology and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to geo-reference specific areas of production fields. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become the framework for multi-layered data that can be used to describe spatial variability in fields. Six years of intensive data has been collected from a 6-ha field on the Delta Research and Extension Center. Corn was grown in 1998, 2000, and 2002 while rotating to cotton in 1999, 2001, and 2003. The 496-plot (cell, 4-row plot on 102-cm spacing, 25m in length) field was established and geo-referenced with plots maintained in the same area throughout the study. Corn and cotton yields were determined by harvesting with commercial equipment adapted for plot harvesting. Following harvest, soil samples were taken from each individual cell and analyzed for available nutrients and other soil characteristics. The yield data was summarized and the yields from each individual year also converted to relative yield for that year. Individual corn yields ranged from 8.30 to 11.65, 9.53 to 13.16, and 9.04 to 14.43 Mg ha-1 for corn years, respectively. The average grain yield across all cells were 9.78, 11.39, and 12.68 Mg ha-1. Grain yields have been correlated to soil characteristics including pH, available P and K, exchangeable cations, CEC, and organic matter. Individual annual yields have were correlated to soil test results from samples taken after the growing season while average corn yields were correlated to the initial soil data and data from different years. While correlations between corn yield and soil data were better than the correlation of cotton yield data and soil characteristics, the results have been quite inconsistent. Averaging over years may help to improve the correlation.

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