Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #388950
Research Project: Sustainable Agricultural Systems for the Northern Great Plains

Location: Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory

Title: Field measurement of wind erosion flux and soil erodibility factors as affected by tillage and seasonal drought

Author
item Merrill, Stephen
item Zobeck, Teddy
item Liebig, Mark

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/20/2022
Publication Date: 5/17/2022
Citation: Merrill, S.D., Zobeck, T.M., Liebig, M.A. 2022. Field measurement of wind erosion flux and soil erodibility factors as affected by tillage and seasonal drought. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 86(5):1296-1311. https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20436.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20436

Interpretive Summary: Tillage can increase wind erosion risk by destroying crop residues and surface soil aggregation. Also, drought can greatly accelerate wind erosion by reducing plant growth and decreasing ground cover. Field measurements documenting the interaction of tillage and drought on wind erosion in cropland have not been reported in the literature. To address this knowledge gap, a multi-year study was conducted near Mandan, ND to measure wind erosion in response to three levels of tillage during a seasonal drought. Following a single tillage event on fallowed soil, wind erosion was increased with increasing levels of disturbance by tillage. Wind erosion was 2- to 5-fold greater during a year when July and August precipitation was less than 30% of the long-term average, resulting in lower residue coverage. Residue coverage under no-till during this period was retained, resulting in less soil loss. Field measurements from this study showed that the residue-destroying effects of a single tillage event can intensify soil loss by wind erosion on cropland in the semiarid northern Great Plains.

Technical Abstract: In semiarid cropping systems, during periods of no or low crop growth, tillage can reduce residue coverage to levels that elevate risk of wind erosion. We measured wind erosion on a silt loam soil in North Dakota (456 mm/yr precipitation) in response to levels of tillage applied once in spring during fallow following sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Treatments were no-tillage (NOTL); reduced tillage (REDTL), an intermediate tillage with tandem disk; and full tillage (FULTL), a more intensive tillage with offset disk. Erosion was measured with BSNE sediment samplers near peripheries of the >1 ha replicated plots from May through September 2003 and 2004. Soil losses during the first year in 2003 for FULTL, REDTL, and NOTL were 12.0, 4.8, and 2.1 Mg/ha, respectively, and for the second year were 2.6, 1.6, and 1.4 Mg/ha, respectively. The greatest loss, 12.0 Mg/ha, was equivalent to approximately 1 mm soil depth. The 2- to 5-fold greater erosion in the first year appears linked to a decline in residue coverage, which had two months of <30% of average precipitation, but coverage remained at the same level in NOTL and increased in tilled treatments during the second year of more average precipitation. Our field measurements of soil losses on a soil ordinarily not considered to be susceptible to wind erosion have shown how the residue-destroying effects of a single tillage event can be considerably exacerbated by a moderate, within-season drought event. This shows the critical importance of no-tillage for limiting soil disturbance and avoiding serious wind erosion risk from drought-affected plant growth failure in semiarid agriculture.