ABSTRACT:
Crop residue left on the soil surface after planting is one of the most cost-effective soil erosion control practices, and is a primary component of the majority of conservation plans that have been developed to comply with the conservation provisions of the 1985 Food Security Act. However, from contacts in Extension meetings and demonstrations, it became apparent that farmers frequently misunderstood certain aspects of crop residue management, particularly the effects that tillage and other operations had on residue cover. To help address some of these questions, we measured percent residue cover remaining on the soil surface after planting for 69 tillage and planting system treatments used in corn (Zea mays L.) residue. Eleven tillage systems, in conjunction with combinations of the use, and timing, of a stalk chopper and/or a knife-type fertilizer applicator, were evaluated. Only 24 of these stalk chopper/knife applicator/tillage system treatment combinations could be classified as conservation tillage when a criterion of 30% or greater residue cover after planting was used. No-till was the only system that consistently provided residue cover levels that were statistically equal to or greater than 40%, the value used in a field study conducted by the Soil and Water Conservation Society to assess conservation plans.
Footnotes
David P. Shelton is a professor. Department of Biological Systems Engineering and Extension Agricultural Engineer, University of Nebraska, Northeast Research and Extension Center, Concord, Nebraska 68728; Elbert C. Dickey is a professor, Department of Biological Systems Engineering and Assistant Dean, Cooperative Extension; Stephen D. Kachman is an assistant professor, Department of Biometry; and Kevin T. Fairbanks is engineering computer specialist, Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583. This manuscript has been assigned Journal Series No. 10314, Agricultural Research Division, University of Nebraska, Lincoln 68583.
- Copyright 1995 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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