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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pendleton, Oregon » Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #260191
Title: Evaporation from high residue no-till versus tilled fallow in a dry summer climate

Author
item Wuest, Stewart
item SCHILLINGER, WILLIAM - Washington State University

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2011
Publication Date: 6/23/2011
Citation: Wuest, S.B., Schillinger, W.F. 2011. Evaporation from high residue no-till versus tilled fallow in a dry summer climate. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 75(4):1512-1518.

Interpretive Summary: Farmers in the low-precipitation (< 300 mm annual) region of the Inland Pacific Northwest of the United States practice summer fallow to produce winter wheat in a 2-yr rotation. No-till fallow (NTF) is ideal for control of wind erosion but is not widely practiced because of seed-zone soil drying during the summer, whereas adequate seed-zone water for germination and emergence of deep-sown winter wheat can generally be retained with tilled fallow (TF). A 6-yr field study was conducted to determine if accumulations of surface residue under long-term NTF might ever be enough to substitute for TF in preserving seed-zone water over summer. Averaged over the six years, residue loads of one, four and seven times the normal load on NTF produced incrementally greater seed-zone water but were not capable of retaining as much as TF. Total root zone (0 to 180 cm) over-summer water loss was greatest in the 1x NTF whereas there were no significant differences in the 3x and 7x NTF versus TF. Average precipitation storage efficiency ranged from 33% for 1x NTF to 40% for TF. We conclude that for the low-precipitation winter wheat-summer fallow region of the Inland Pacific Northwest: (i) Cumulative water loss during the summer from NTF generally exceeds that of TF; (ii) there is more extensive and deeper over-summer drying of the seed-zone layer with NTF than with TF; (iii) increased quantities of surface residue in NTF slow the rate of evaporative loss from late-summer rains, and (iv) large quantities of surface residue from April through August will marginally enhance total-profile and seed-zone water in NTF, but will not retain adequate seed-zone water for early establishment of winter wheat except sometimes during years of exceptionally high precipitation or when substantial rain occurs in mid-to-late August.

Technical Abstract: Farmers in the low-precipitation (< 300 mm annual) region of the Inland Pacific Northwest of the United States practice summer fallow to produce winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in a 2-yr rotation. No-till fallow (NTF) is ideal for control of wind erosion but is not widely practiced because of seed-zone soil drying during the summer, whereas adequate seed-zone water for germination and emergence of deep-sown winter wheat can generally be retained with tilled fallow (TF). A 6-yr field study was conducted to determine if accumulations of surface residue under long-term NTF might ever be enough to substitute for TF in preserving seed-zone water over summer. Averaged over the six years, residue loads of 1500, 6000, and 10 500 kg ha-1 (1x, 4x, and 7x rates, respectively) on NTF produced incrementally greater seed-zone water but were not capable of retaining as much as TF. Total root zone (0 to 180 cm) over-summer water loss was greatest in the 1x NTF whereas there were no significant differences in the 3x and 7x NTF versus TF. Average precipitation storage efficiency ranged from 33% for 1x NTF to 40% for TF. We conclude that for the low-precipitation winter wheat-summer fallow region of the Inland Pacific Northwest: (i) Cumulative water loss during the summer from NTF generally exceeds that of TF; (ii) there is more extensive and deeper over-summer drying of the seed-zone layer with NTF than with TF; (iii) increased quantities of surface residue in NTF slow the rate of evaporative loss from late-summer rains, and (iv) large quantities of surface residue from April through August will marginally enhance total-profile and seed-zone water in NTF, but will not retain adequate seed-zone water for early establishment of winter wheat except sometimes during years of exceptionally high precipitation or when substantial rain occurs in mid-to-late August.