TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF CONSERVATION TILLAGE RESEARCH IN NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI

Authors: McGregor, Keith; Mutchler, Calvin; Foster, George; JOHNSON, JOSEPH - MAFES

Submitted to: Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The agricultural land in Northern Mississippi erodes easily when the land surface is left unprotected from the erosive action of rainfall and runoff. The high rainfall and erodible soil is typical of many other regions of the mid-south. Twenty-five years of cooperative research between the National Sedimentation Laboratory and the North Mississippi Branch of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station show the erosion control benefits of conservation practices. No-till and reduced-till corn, grain sorghum, and soybeans yielded very low soil erosion rates. A cover crop and no-till was required to bring cotton soil loss below tolerable limits. Two and one half decades of research have resulted in refinements and improvements in the universal soil loss prediction equation and the revised universal soil loss prediction equation, and have improved understanding of erosion control practices for conservation planning. These continuing studies enable conservationists to help farmers nationwide to use their land productively and profitably. The USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) continues to use these data to help determine specifications and criteria for conservation tillage systems. ARS and NRCS also use these data to refine erosion prediction technology used by USDA to ensure compliance with provisions to federal legislation in the 1985 and 1990 Farm Bills.

Technical Abstract: The Agricultural Research Service and the North Mississippi Branch of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) conducted cooperative conservation tillage research on standard erosion plots at Holly Springs, Mississippi on Providence silt loam soils (Typic Fragiudalfs) over a twenty-five year period. Highlights of these cooperative studies illustrate the benefits of conservation tillage as contrasted with measured rates of high erosion from conventional-till crops. No-till and reduced-till grain crops that included corn, grain sorghum, and soybeans yielded very low soil erosion rates. Low cropping and management (C-value) factors derived for use in soil loss prediction contributed to the lowering of C-values approximately 80% for current use in the Universal Soil Loss Equation and in the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. The negative effect of long-term erosion on soybean productivity was documented. These continuing studies enable conservationists to help farmers nationwide to use their land productively and profitably.