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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #413581
Research Project: Integrating Science and Stewardship to Advance Sustainable Management Practices for the Upper Midwest

Location: Soil Management Research

Title: Corn and soybean yields under a 25 year long-term tillage comparison

Author
item Weyers, Sharon
item Johnson, Jane
item Gesch, Russell - Russ

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/1/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Strip tillage and zero tillage, proposed strategies to reduce soil carbon losses through erosion and carbon dioxide emissions, prompted the establishment of a large-scale tillage comparison study in 1997. Comparisons of strip tillage, zero tillage and moldboard plow combined with disk tillage have continued with a main corn and soybean rotation scheme for the greater part of the past 25 years. This long-term study is a component of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Long Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network. The study was divided into three phases: 1997-2003, 2003-2007 and 2008-2020 due to other overlaid treatments, respectively, residue management, early or late planting, and addition of more diverse rotations in strip-tilled plots. Tillage had no influence on overall corn yields in either of the first or second phases, or overall soybean yields for all phases. However, corn yields were negatively affected by strip-tillage and zero-tillage during phase 3.