Location: Southeast Watershed Research
Project Number: 6048-21600-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jun 28, 2024
End Date: Jun 27, 2029
Objective:
1. Develop optimal management practices for an integrated crop-livestock production system that includes a three-year rotation of summer and winter crops with poultry litter as the primary N and P sources, under irrigated and dryland conditions.
1.A Compare the effects of crop diversity/rotation on crop productivity, on soil nutrients, and on soil carbon quantity and quality.
2. As a participating site in the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network, use a systems approach to develop management strategies and enhance core system sustainability indicators for an aspirational cropping system that will enhance production, ecosystem services, and resilience to changing weather patterns.
2.A Compare the effects of crop rotations and winter covers (fallow vs. rye vs.
carinata-rye-lupin rotation) on soil carbon quantity and quality, and on soil microbial community composition.
2.B Characterize and quantify the contaminants and dissolved trace gases transported from agroecosystems by surface and subsurface flow.
Approach:
The research described in this plan will be conducted strategically at three sites in Georgia. These sites have a well-established research history and offer unique features that will increase the power and scope of this project. Specifically, research under Objective 1 will be conducted at the ARS Phillippi Farm (PF) where the experimental plots were established, and crop rotations were initiated in 2019. To minimize disturbance in the small plots at the PF, research under Objective 2 will be conducted at the UGA Ponder Farm Research Plots (PFRP) and the Gibbs Farm Research Plots (GFRP), managed under the NP211 project plan. Similar soils and crops across these three sites will enhance understanding of how mineral interactions with carbon processes affect agricultural sustainability in coastal plain Ultisols. The climate at all the three sites is humid subtropical with a long growing season. Mean annual temperature is 19 °C, with January as the coolest month (11 °C) and July the warmest (27 °C). While mean annual rainfall is 1,165 mm, extended summer dry periods are normal and multi-year periods of below normal rainfall are common.
