What About Continuous Corn?

Interest in continuous corn in Iowa has been g rowing for several years. And increasing numbers of farmers have been trying it out on their own. Here\u27s a report on the results of our Iowa tests with continuous corn

Improve Your Subsoil Moisture for Higher Yields

Moisture is becoming an increasingly important factor in crop production. ISU studies show farmers can save moisture for an upcoming corn crop by killing out a meadow crop early in the last year of a rotation

Different Cropping Systems Require Different Amounts and Kinds of Fertilizers

With increasing concern about pollution, it is important that fertilizers not be used in excess. Results of a series of ISU studies provide guidelines for proper fertilizer rates

Evolution of the Level lnterfluvial Divides on the Kansan Till Plain in Iowa and Missouri

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and evaluate various alternative hypotheses concerning the evolution of the level interfluvial divides on the Kansan Till plain in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. About four-fifths of the plain is dissected (3), but the undissected remnants have an almost flat surface. In contrast to this the undissected portion of the much younger surfaces of the Mankato and Cary till plains have an undulating topography with numerous closed depressions and isolated low knolls

Productivity levels of some Iowa soils

This report presents crop yield estimates for corn, soybeans, oats, and hay on 290 selected soil types and phases. These yield estimates are believed attainable as a 5-year average with the technology available in 1971 and average weather conditions.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/specialreports/1063/thumbnail.jp

Crop Rotations - Facts and Fiction

A wide range of cropping systems will give high corn yields. Whether or not to rotate crops may depend on the land slope. We don\u27t have all the answers but here\u27s more about these and other crop rotation facts

Comparison of meadow-kill treatments on a corn-oats-meadow-meadow rotation in northwestern Iowa

An experiment was conducted at the Moody Research Center (formerly Moody Experimental Farm) in northwestern Iowa to examine the effects of meadow-kill on crop yields and on soil moisture in the spring. The experiment utilized a corn-oats-meadow-meadow rotation with meadow-kill treatments applied to the second-year meadow at various times of the growing season. Twenty years (1958-1977) of data were used for the analyses presented in this bulletin. Three treatments were used in the experiment. In the first, the control treatment, the second-year meadow was harvested two or three times. The plots were plowed the following spring before corn was planted. The second treatment was a short fallow” treatment, in which second-year meadow was killed with herbicides in the early fall after the second cutting of hay. The third treatment was a longer fallow treatment, with meadow killed in midsummer after the first hay cutting. Plots receiving the second and third treatments also were spring plowed

Analysis of crop-rotation experiments, with application to the Iowa Carrington-Clyde rotation-fertility experiments

This report presents a model by which several crop rotations are compared, and optimal fertilization and rotation practices determined. The model is developed with specific applicability to the rotation- fertility experiments at the Carrington-Clyde Experimental Farm near Independence, Iowa. The substitutability of legume meadow and chemical nitrogen fertilizer and the effect of carry-over of applied nitrogen from crop to crop are incorporated into the analysis. The split-plot nature of the rotation- fertility trials is noted, and a transformation of the yield data is employed to create nearly uncorrelated observations. Response functions are estimated for each crop in each rotation. Optimal fertilizer rates and rotations Eire determined on the basis of average annual return. Variance of return arising from yield variability over years is estimated. Continuous corn yielded the largest net income for the prices considered in the study. The net income per acre decreased with the introduction of oats and an increasing number of years of meadow. Variability of annual net return, however, was largest with continuous corn and decreased as the number of years of meadow in the rotations increased

Soil and Crop Management Practices for Iowa - Part II: Corn and Soybeans

Soil and crop management practices for oats and meadow appeared in the January issue of Iowa Farm Science. This second section by the same authors deals with soil and crop management practices for corn and soybeans