Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research
Project Number: 2090-22000-019-004-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 15, 2020
End Date: Oct 15, 2023
Objective:
1. Demonstrate agronomic stability of winter peas in various cropping zones of dryland Pacific Northwest.
2. Describe the unique microbiome of winter pea rhizosphere and root and impacts on soil health for following wheat.
Approach:
This research will be conducted in two established rotation field trials at Ritzville, Washington. The first is a long-term rotation, with a winter pea-spring wheat-tilled fallow vs a winter wheat-spring wheat-tilled fallow. The second is winter pea-no-till fallow-winter wheat-no-till fallow vs winter wheat- no till fallow, closer to the conventional practice. In Fall, and Spring 2020 and 2021, we will sample the soil, rhizosphere and root microbiome of winter pea and winter wheat. We will also sample the following spring wheat in rotation. In the second rotation, we will also sample winter pea and winter wheat in the fall and spring, as well as winter wheat following a fallow, and either winter wheat or winter pea as a previous crop. DNA will be extracted from samples, and the fungal and bacterial communities amplified with ITS and 16S primers and sequenced with Illumina MiSeq. Samples will also be analyzed with PLFA (phospholipid fatty acid) to determine the biomass of broad communities. Soil water dynamics, soil nutrients, weed ecology, and grain yield measurements will be taken. The purpose of this work is to determine how winter peas in rotation with winter wheat in the dry wheat- summer fallow zone can impact the soil health of the following wheat crop, and show it is an economically and agronomically viable new rotation crop that can benefit the sustainability of this cropping system.
