Fall Deep Tillage Of Clay

Author : L. G. Heatherly
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 9 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (78 download)

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Download or read book Fall Tillage for Soybean Grown on Delta Day Soils written by L. G. Heatherly and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional soybean production in the midsouthern United States has involved planting in a seedbed that had been shallow-tilled in the fall or spring just before planting. Moisture deficits that frequently occur during the growing season reduce yield of soybean in this traditional production system. Field experiments were conducted at Stoneville, Mississippi (lat 33°26'N), on Tunica clay (clayey over loamy, smectitic, nonacid, thermic, Vertic Haplaquept) and Sharkey clay (very-fine, smectitic, thermic chromic Epiaquert) from 1993 through 2000. The objective was to compare yields and economic returns from plantings of MG IV and V soybean varieties grown on the two soils after shallow (ST) and deep (DT) fall tillage. Net returns were calculated as the difference between income and all direct and indirect costs excluding those for land, management, and general farm overhead. Costs for tillage in DT were $12 ti $17 per acre greater than those for tillage in ST. Yields and net returns resulting from DT were greater than those from ST in all years on the Tunica soil. Yields and net returns from nonirrigated April/early May plantings after DT on Sharkey clay were significantly greater than those from ST in only 1 year out of 5. Yields and net returns from nonirrigated mid-May/early June plantings after DT were never significantly different from those of ST. The DT treatment followed by irrigation of the soybean crop the following year did not affect yield or net return. These results indicate that deep tillage of Tunica clay soil will result in significantly greater yield and net return. while deep tillage of Sharkey clay soil only has potential for increasing both when plantings are made in early April.