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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396205
Research Project: Sustainable Agricultural Systems for the Northern Great Plains

Location: Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory

Title: Influence of previous soil management strategies on perennial forage establishment

Author
item Hendrickson, John
item Liebig, Mark
item Christensen, Rachael
item Archer, David
item Halvorson, Jonathan
item Clemensen, Andrea

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/2022
Publication Date: 11/6/2022
Citation: Hendrickson, J.R., Liebig, M.A., Christensen, R., Archer, D.W., Halvorson, J.J., Clemensen, A.K. 2022. Influence of previous soil management strategies on perennial forage establishment. Meeting Abstract. 1.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Including perennials as a phase in an annual crop rotation can improve soil quality parameters and help reduce off-farm inputs while providing a forage source for livestock. However, strategies for incorporating perennials into existing cropping systems are currently lacking. Therefore, we assessed perennial forage establishment and productivity following a long-term (1993-2018) multiple crop rotation study comparing no-till and minimum till management. Starting in 2012 the crop rotations included 1) Continuous Spring Wheat with the residue in place (CSW+); 2) Continuous Spring Wheat with the residue removed (CSW-); 3) Spring Wheat -Corn-Cover Crop (SW-C-CC); 4) Spring Wheat-Corn-Soybean (SW-C-S); 5) Spring Wheat -Fallow (SW-F) and 6) Spring Wheat -Soybean (SW-S). In June 2019, an alfalfa-intermediate wheatgrass mixture was seeded over all the plots and in the fall of 2020, percent forage establishment was determined using frequency grids. In 2020 and 2021, biomass on the plots was determined in June and August using a forage harvester and species composition for each harvest was determined by clipping four 0.125 m2 frames to ground level. Establishment was impacted by previous crop rotation but not by tillage with SW-F and SW-S having greater establishment than the SW-C-CC rotation. Average annual precipitation in 2020 was 44% of normal and in 2021 was 80% of normal. There were significant differences between rotations in 2020 but not in 2021. In 2020, the SW-F rotation produced over twice as much forage as the CSW+, the SW-C-CC and the CSW- rotations. By 2021, differences in forage yield between rotations was not evident. This study suggests that crop rotation impacted the establishment and productivity of subsequent perennial forage mixtures more than tillage management, but that these differences may diminish under drought like conditions.