Crop specific implications of yield and energy use efficiency in non-inversion tillage systems

Douglas Warner, Ron Stobart, Nathan Morris, John Tzilivakis, Andrew Green, Kathleen Lewis, ‘Crop specific implications of yield and energy use efficiency in non-inversion tillage systems’, paper presented at Crop Protection in Northern Britain 2016, Dundee, UK, 23-24 February, 2016.This paper reports how non-inversion (reduced) tillage impacts energy consumption and crop yield, utilising 8 years of replicated field trials undertaken by The New Farming Systems study in the East of England. Tillage regimes include: (1) plough, (2) shallow non-inversion (typically 10 cm), and (3) deep non-inversion (20-25 cm) within two rotations of either (1) winter sown / spring sown crops or (2) winter sown / spring sown + autumn cover crop. Energy use per ha (highest to lowest) was: plough > deep non-inversion > shallow non-inversion. Crop specific and temporal yield responses were observed. Winter sown crops responded favourably to deep non-inversion tillage, and yields improved as the trial progressed. When considered in combination with lower energy input per hectare, energy efficiency increased relative to the plough-only control. Yield response to shallow non-inversion tillage was variable. Spring sown crops, notably spring beans, declined in yield and overall energy efficiency, in the non-inversion tillage treatments.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Legume based plant mixtures for delivery of multiple ecosystem services: An overview of benefits

As costs for mineral fertilizers rise, legume-based leys are recognised as a potential alternative nitrogen source for crops. Here we demonstrate that including species-rich legume-based leys in the rotation helps to maximize synergies between agricultural productivity and other ecosystem services. By using functionally diverse plant species mixtures these services can be optimised and fine-tuned to regional and farm-specific needs. Field experiments run over three years at multiple locations showed that the stability of ley performance was greater in multi-species mixtures than in legume monocultures. In addition, mixing different legume species in the ley helps to suppress both early and late weeds. Further, combining complementary phenologies of different legume species extended forage availability for key pollinator species. Finally, widening the range of legume species increases opportunities to build short term leys into rotations on conventional farms via cover cropping or undersowing

Impact of shortened crop rotation of oilseed rape on soil and rhizosphere microbial diversity in relation to yield decline

Oilseed rape (OSR) grown in monoculture shows a decline in yield relative to virgin OSR of up to 25%, but the mechanisms responsible are unknown. A long term field experiment of OSR grown in a range of rotations with wheat was used to determine whether shifts in fungal and bacterial populations of the rhizosphere and bulk soil were associated with the development of OSR yield decline. The communities of fungi and bacteria in the rhizosphere and bulk soil from the field experiment were profiled using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) and sequencing of cloned internal transcribed spacer regions and 16S rRNA genes, respectively. OSR cropping frequency had no effect on rhizosphere bacterial communities. However, the rhizosphere fungal communities from continuously grown OSR were significantly different to those from other rotations. This was due primarily to an increase in abundance of two fungi which showed 100% and 95% DNA identity to the plant pathogens Olpidium brassicae and Pyrenochaeta lycopersici, respectively. Real-time PCR confirmed that there was significantly more of these fungi in the continuously grown OSR than the other rotations. These two fungi were isolated from the field and used to inoculate OSR and Brassica oleracea grown under controlled conditions in a glasshouse to determine their effect on yield. At high doses, Olpidium brassicae reduced top growth and root biomass in seedlings and reduced branching and subsequent pod and seed production. Pyrenochaeta sp. formed lesions on the roots of seedlings, and at high doses delayed flowering and had a negative impact on seed quantity and quality

Reduced tillage improves energy efficiency in winter sown combinable crops

NIAB TAG’s New Farming Systems (NFS) research programme, currently in year nine and based at Morley in Norfolk, consists of several long-term field trials aiming to develop bio-sustainable cropping systems for conventional arable cropping. A component of the trials is evaluating the impact on energy efficiency of reduced or non-inversion tillage, a technique that has been cited by a number of previous studies as a potential means to improve the efficiency and resilience of arable cropping. Plough-based systems, used traditionally in arable cropping, in which soil is inverted with a mouldboard plough, are compared with non-inversion alternatives. These are either shallow (5-10 cm) with crop residues remaining mostly on the soil surface, or deep (15-20 cm) where a proportion of residues are incorporated into the topsoil. Soil compaction, a potential risk associated with reduced cultivations, is removed with a subsoiler. Although non-inversion tillage is reported to be advantageous due to decreased operational time and decreased energy input per ha, the effect on crop yield and impact on energy consumption per t of crop output needs accounting for. Previous work undertaken at NIAB TAG had shown an initial decrease in crop yield immediately after conversion to a noninversion tillage system and then a yield that then increases in following seasons, although it is unclear if this was a trend or associated with responses to specific seasonal conditions. However, a key question to address is whether this yield reduction reduces energy efficiency, and if so, in which crops and what are the longer term rotational implications

Results From Recent Traffic Systems Research And The Implications For Future Work

This paper reviews the results of recent traffic systems research and concludes that the evidence shows that with sufficient ingenuity by farmers and their equipment suppliers to match operating and wheel track widths, the traffic management systems that reduce soil compaction should improve crop yield, reduce energy consumption and improve infiltration rates (which will reduce runoff, erosion and flooding). These together will improve agronomic, economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. Low ground pressure alternatives may well be the option that best suits some farming enterprises and should not be discounted as viable traffic management methods. The paper also considers the implications for further work to improve the robustness of the experimental data

Using legume-based mixtures to enhance the nitrogen use efficiency and economic viability of cropping systems.

There is a pressing need to develop arable cropping systems that are both more efficient in their use of nitrogen (N) and more resilient to an increasingly variable and unpredictable climate. One potential solution is to use species-rich mixtures of grasses and legumes in the fertilitybuilding phase of a ley/arable crop rotation. These mixtures may reduce N losses and increase productivity of the following crop. They may also have other important benefits such as increased in-field biodiversity. In this project, legume and grass species with a range of tolerances to different environmental conditions, and with differing growth characteristics, are being grown individually and as a mixture across the UK, and their performance assessed

<i>B. oleracea</i> root displaying a root lesion after inoculation with <i>Pyrenochaeta</i> sp.

<p><i>B. oleracea</i> root displaying a root lesion after inoculation with <i>Pyrenochaeta</i> sp.</p