Location: Soil and Water Management Research
Project Number: 5062-11120-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Oct 25, 2021
End Date: Oct 24, 2026
Objective:
Objective 1. Evaluate and develop innovative cropping systems and management practices to increase the resiliency and decrease the environmental impacts of agricultural systems.
a. Develop management practices that address the key impediments to adoption of kura clover living mulch systems for corn production.
b. Quantify the agronomic and environmental performance of corn grown with and without the use of novel soil amendments in integrated management systems.
Objective 2. Improve fundamental understanding and predictability of nitrogen and carbon transformation processes to improve crop nutrient use efficiency and reduce nutrient losses, especially through engineered solutions.
a. Reveal chemical mechanisms of N and C transformations occurring with biochar amendments and develop guidance for agronomic use.
b. Quantify fundamental N process rates following urea addition to soil with and without soil amendments and incorporate missing processes into a dynamic model.
Approach:
This project will address key challenges facing corn producers in the upper Midwest U.S., which include the need for strategies that extend vegetative cover for longer periods and reduce reactive nitrogen losses to aquatic systems and greenhouse gas emissions. These challenges will be addressed through a combination of field, lab, and modeling-based studies structured around two main objectives and four integrated sub-objectives. Objective 1 will utilize field and laboratory studies to evaluate and develop innovative cropping systems and management practices to increase the resiliency and decrease the environmental impacts of agricultural systems. Sub-objective 1A will evaluate the feasibility of overseeding kura clover into an existing alfalfa stand to maintain forage productivity during the kura clover establishment period and determine if reduced intensity tillage can produce early corn growth similar to rotary zone tillage if combined with injected anhydrous ammonia as a nitrogen source. Sub-objective 1B will quantify the agronomic and environmental performance of corn grown with and without the use of novel soil amendments in integrated management systems. The overall aim of Objective 2 is to improve fundamental understanding and predictability of nitrogen and carbon transformation processes to improve crop nutrient use efficiency and reduce nutrient losses. Sub-objective 2A will use laboratory studies to reveal the chemical mechanisms of nitrogen and carbon transformations occurring with biochar amendments which will be used to develop guidance for the agronomic use of biochar. Sub-objective 2B will quantify fundamental nitrogen process rates following urea addition to soil with and without soil amendments and incorporate missing processes into a dynamic nitrogen cycling model. This research will increase our understanding of fundamental soil processes to allow improved prediction of agronomic and environmental outcomes and generate recommended practices for corn producers and policy makers that utilize innovative cover crops, row establishment systems and soil amendments to maintain productivity, increase climate resilience and soil carbon storage, and decrease environmental risks.
