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Title: Comparison of tillage treatments on greenhouse gas fluxes in winter wheat

Author
item Peterson-Munks, Brekke
item Steiner, Jean

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2016
Publication Date: 11/6/2016
Citation: Peterson-Munks, B.L., Steiner, J.L. 2016. Comparison of tillage treatments on greenhouse gas fluxes in winter wheat [abstract]. ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting, Resilience Emerging from Scarcity and Abundance, November 6-9, 2016, Phoenix, Arizona. Available: https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2016am/webprogram/Paper101344.html.

Interpretive Summary: Abstract only.

Technical Abstract: Tillage is commonly used to control weeds and prepare fields for planting. Repeated tillage can result in soil drying, sudden bursts of mineralized carbon and nitrogen from soil organic matter, and alterations in soil microbial communities. The effects of tillage on winter wheat cropping systems and parameters listed above is not well understood in the Southern Plains. This study was conducted in July, 2015 at the USDA-ARS Grazinglands Research Laboratory, El Reno, Oklahoma in winter wheat sites where the fields were either chisel-plowed or worked with a vertical tillage tool or were not tilled (control). The main objective was to determine the impact of chisel plow and vertical tillage tool use on soil priming of carbon and nitrogen cycling and greenhouse gas (GHG) flux in winter wheat production. Soil and GHG samples were taken over a 196 hours post-plow time period. Results indicate that carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions were greatest from chisel-plowed field, followed by the field where the vertical tillage tool was used. A pulse of soil labile carbon and nitrogen was observed as early as 3 hours post tillage in both chisel and vertical tillage tool treatments. Both treatments had greater greenhouse gas fluxes compared to the no-till control. Knowledge of how different tillage practices alter soil priming and GHG emissions will help to establish sustainable management practices and improve ecosystem services, while reducing input cost.