Tillage Study for Corn and Soybean: Comparing Vertical, Deep, and No-Till

The need for tillage in corn and soybean production in the Kansas River Valley continues to be debated. The soils of the Kansas River Valley are highly variable, with much of the soil sandy to silty loam in texture. These soils tend to be relatively low in organic matter (\u3c2%) and susceptible to wind erosion. Although typically well drained, these soils can develop compaction layers under certain conditions. A tillage study was initiated in the fall of 2011 at the Kansas River Valley Experiment Field near Topeka to compare deep vs. shallow vs. no-till vs. deep tillage in alternate years. Corn and soybean crops are rotated annually. This is intended to be a long-term study to determine if soil characteristics and yields change in response to a history of each tillage system

Effects of Seed Treatment on Sudden Death Syndrome Symptoms and Soybean Yield

Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is a soybean disease that perennially limits yields in the Kansas River Valley. The presence of soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and saturated soils have been implicated in contributing to the severity of the disease. Selecting varieties with some degree of tolerance to SDS is the only cultural practice that can potentially reduce the severity of SDS and improve yields. Variety selection alone, however, cannot improve the production of soybeans to make them profitable. The challenge of trying to manage irrigation scheduling to avoid saturated soils further complicates efforts to increase productivity with irrigation while still avoiding SDS. A study with seed treatments applied to soybean was conducted at the Kansas River Valley Experiment Field in 2014, with treatments applied to a soybean variety with a high level of tolerance to SDS. The study was irrigated earlier and more often than normal to promote the disease. The most severely infested plots had more than 50% of the leaf area expressing symptoms of SDS by the R6 growth stage. Treatments with ILeVO from Bayer CropScience (Research Triangle Park, NC) reduced foliar symptoms and increased yields up to 12 bu/a, or more than 25%. These results are similar to those in a 2013 study of varieties with SDS tolerance ranging from very susceptible to more tolerant; the yield increase was up to 16 bu/a, or 40% with the ILeVO seed treatment

Effects of an Experimental Seed Treatment from DuPont on Sudden Death Syndrome Symptoms and Soybean Yield

Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is a soybean disease that perennially limits yields in the Kansas River Valley. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and saturated soils contribute to the severity of the disease. Selecting varieties with some degree of tolerance to SDS is the only cultural practice that can reduce the severity of SDS and improve yields. Variety selection alone, however, doesn’t necessarily make soybean production profitable; an added complication is managing irrigation scheduling to avoid saturated soils. A study with seed treatments applied to soybean was conducted at the Kansas River Valley Experiment Field in 2014, with treatments applied to two soybean varieties susceptible to SDS. The study was irrigated earlier and more often than normal for soybean to promote the disease. In the most severely infested plots, more than 50% of the leaf area expressed symptoms of SDS by the R6 growth stage. Treatments with an experimental seed treatment from DuPont (Wilmington, DE) reduced the amount of foliar disease in all varieties and increased yields up to 10 bu/a, or more than 25%

East Central Kansas Experiment Field Introduction

The research program at the East Central Kansas Experiment Field is designed to keep area crop producers abreast of technological advances in agronomic agriculture. Specific objectives are to (1) identify top-performing varieties and hybrids of wheat, corn, soybean, and grain sorghum; (2) establish the amount of tillage and crop residue cover needed for optimum crop production; (3) evaluate weed and disease control practices using chemical, no chemical, and combination methods; and (4) test fertilizer rates, timing, and application methods for agronomic proficiency and environmental stewardship

Kansas River Valley Experiment Field Introduction

The Kansas River Valley (KRV) Experiment Field was established to study management and effective use of irrigation resources for crop production in the KRV. The Paramore Unit consists of 80 acres located 3.5 miles east of Silver Lake on U.S. Highway 24, then 1 mile south of Kiro, and 1.5 miles east on 17th street. The Rossville Unit consists of 80 acres located 1 mile east of Rossville or 4 miles west of Silver Lake on U.S. Highway 24

Field Station Weather Reports

This report includes the annual summary of precipitation from 2021 at the research locations represented in the 2022 field report and further details about the Kansas River Valley locations and the east central Kansas locations

Forage Sorghum Performance Trial

In our sorghum trials, production of forage was greater (P \u3c 0.05) for ‘FS 4’ and ‘AF 7401’ than for ‘AF 7202,’ possibly related to differences in maturity. Estimated grain production was greater for ‘AF 7401’ than for all others, except for ‘AF 7102.

Effect of Late Planting Dates on Corn Yield

Planting date studies have been conducted for corn over many years. Often the focus has been to determine optimum planting date for maximizing yield. In some areas, planting early-maturing corn hybrids as early as possible has been a successful strategy for avoiding hot, dry conditions at the critical pollination and early grain fill stages. Planting later can be an alternative strategy that attempts to avoid the most intense heat by moving the critical growth stages for corn centered around pollination to later in the growing season. This strategy has been adopted by some growers in areas that often encounter heat and moisture stress during the growing season. However, crop insurance cutoff dates for planting are earlier than some farmers may want to plant some of their corn acres. The purpose of these studies was to assess the yield potential for corn planted after the insurance planting cutoff date and to compare corn yields from a wide range of planting dates. Corn planted from the second week of June until even the 4th week can yield from 50 to 70% of the highest yield of the earlier planting dates

Tillage Study for Corn and Soybeans: Comparing Vertical, Deep, and No-Tillage

Trends from a tillage study conducted since 2011 have shown no clear differences between tillage systems for either corn or soybeans in lighter soils under irrigation. One year out of eight years has shown a yield advantage for either corn or soybeans for any tillage system, which appears to be related to environmental conditions experienced during the season. Averaged across all years of the study, the treatments with deep tillage either every or every-other year had about 4.5% higher corn yields, and soybeans had up to a 3.2% yield increase with some form of tillage

Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome Influenced by Macronutrient Fertility on Irrigated Soybean in a Corn/Soybean Rotation

The effects of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) fertilization on a corn/ soybean cropping sequence were evaluated from 1983 to 2014, with corn planted in odd years. We observed a relationship between the P rate applied during the corn years and the severity of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in 2014 soybean