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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Florence, South Carolina » Coastal Plain Soil, Water and Plant Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #91080
Title: SOIL STRENGTH IN RYE WINTER COVER AND FALLOW IN THE SOUTHEASTERN COASTAL PLAIN

Author
item Busscher, Warren
item Bauer, Philip

Submitted to: Annual Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/27/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: On sandy coastal soils with subsurface hardpans, cover crops can prevent erosion and scavenge nutrients. We hypothesized that cover crops would decrease soil strength and increase cotton yield. Treatments were surface tillage (disked or none), deep tillage (in-row subsoiled or none), and cover crop (rye or fallow). Yields were not significantly different. Soil strength (cone index) varied among tillage treatments (deep tilled less than none), depth ( higher strength in the pan), and position across the row (in row less than non-wheel track less than wheel track). Lower cone indices were found in the non-tilled rye cover (19.6 Atm) than non-tilled fallow (21.2 Atm), suggesting that the rye helped maintain low strengths. Higher cone indices in the disked (21.2 Atm) vs. non-disked (19.6 Atm) treatments suggested that the disking hastened recompaction.