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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Kimberly, Idaho » Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #81111
Title: HAYLAND CONVERSION TO WHEAT PRODUCTION: TILLAGE, YIELD AND HAY PRODUCTION COMPARISONS

Author
item Aase, J
item SCHAEFER, G. - USDA-NRCS, BOZEMAN, MT
item Pikul Jr, Joseph

Submitted to: Soil & Tillage Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/3/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Our objective was to compare tillage methods of returning land that had been in crested wheatgrass hayland for about 15 years to wheat production versus leaving the land in hay production. The study was conducted 4 miles south of Froid, Montana. The grass was either mechanically broken up or killed with herbicides and then fallowed for a year prior to being seeded to wheat for four years in a row. Comparison grass plots were either fertilized or not fertilized. Experimental wheat yields averaged 38.5 bu/acre. Fertilized grass averaged 1.4 tons/acre versus 0.8 tons per acre for unfertilized grass. Wheat production averaged $64.49 per acre to pay for land, labor and management. Fertilized hay averaged $39.64, and unfertilized hay, $27.39 per acre. The results may be tempered with the fact that wheat yields were high. A 30 bu/acre yield would have equaled the return from fertilized grass. Careful consideration must be given to management practices, market conditions, total precipitation and its temporal distribution, soil conditions, growth environment and government programs, before breaking hayland for small grain production.

Technical Abstract: When converting grass and haylands to cultivated crop production, care is necessecary to conserve and maintain soil resources. Methods of breaking sod can bear on erosivity and physical and chemical properties of soils. Our objective was to compare tillage methods of converting crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum (Fisch. ex Link) Schult.) hayland to wheat (Tricum aestivum L.) production vs. leaving for hay production. We initiated a study in 1990 on Dooley sandy loam (fine-loamy, d Typic Argiboroll) near Froid, Montana. Plots, replicated three times, were 12- by 30-m oriented east to west on a north-facing slope. We converted sod to cultivation by: 1) moldboard plow, 2) toolbar with sweeps, 3) no-till. Plots were fallowed until spring 1991 and then seeded to spring wheat each of the next four years. Wheat plots were fertilized, grass was either fertilized or not fertilized. Wheat yields averaged 2,540 kg/ha on tilled treatments and 2,674 kg/ha on no-till. Fertilized grass consistently out-yielded unfertilized, and averaged 3.2 Mg/ha vs. 1.8 Mg/ha. Treatment 2 had highest economic return of $169.48/ha to pay for land, labor, and management. Treatment 1 had $162.05/ha. Because of herbicide costs, no-till only returned $146.53/ha. Unfertilized grass hay returned $67.68/ha and fertilized grass hay, $97.95/ha. Before converting grass and haylands to small grains production, thought must be given to such variables as sod conversion methods, management practices, market conditions, total precipitation and its temporal distribution, soil conditions, growth environment, soil conservation, and economics.