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Annual Report of Progress
to the
MISSISSIPPI SOYBEAN PROMOTION BOARD
for 1997


Project Title: Soybean Rotation and Tillage Systems in Drill Soybean for Conservation Compliance in the Black Belt Prairie
Project Leader(s): N. W. Buehring, S. R. Spurlock, R. L. Ivy, J. D. Summers, M. A. Blaine, and J. D. Roberts
Department(s) or
Branch Station(s):		 Northeast Branch Station, MSU Ag Eco Dept., Prairie Research Unit, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and MCES

Objectives

  1. Evaluate (on-farm) drill soybean yield and percent ground residue cover as influenced by selected tillage and crop rotation/tillage systems in the Black Belt Prairie region.
  2. Determine direct and fixed costs and net returns to land and management for each cropping/tillage system at selected locations.
  3. Determine which systems meet conservation compliance.

Significant Accomplishments

The year 1997 was the fourth year of the study. Since the paratill treatment caused water ponding at the end of the plots in 1994 and 1995, the treatment was changed in the fall of 1995 to no-tillage corn followed by no-tillage soybeans. In order to evalu ate reduced tillage trips, a fall colter-chisel-harrow [FC-H (one-pass operation)] tillage treatment also was initiated in the fall of 1995.

Continuous soybean (1994-97) Yield: No-till continuous soybean in 1995 and 1996 produced lower yield than paratill, and chisel-harrow stale seedbed system. This was in contrast to 1994 and 1997, which showed that with above normal rainfall, was no yield differences between no-till, paratill, and FC-H tillage treatment.

Corn-soybean rotation (1995-97) Yield: Soybeans showed an average of 15% yield increase following corn in a rotation in 1995 and 1996 but not in 1997. FC-H following NT corn and FC-H continuous soybean yield in 1997 were equal. Conventional tilla ge (CT) soybean following CT corn showed yield equal to FC-H in 1997.

Ground Residue Cover: The on-farm drill production system study in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 indicated that tillage systems had a significant impact on ground residue cover. Paratill + harrow (SPT) and fall chisel-harrow (FC-H) NT continuous soybean had 47, 15, and 4% or more ground residue cover (GRC) at planting. Corn in rotation with soybeans in both conventional and stale seedbed tillage systems did not significantly incr ease the GRC in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, however, FC-H following NT corn showed 30% GRC at soybean planting in contrast to 9% for FC-H in continuous soybean and 11% for CT soybean following CT corn. CT corn Fb CT soybean in a rotation had 3 to 11% GRC. The 1997 GRC at planting data indicated that FC-H following NT corn showed 10% in contrast to 5% for FC-H in continuous soybean and 1% for CT soybean following CT corn. The lower GRC for 1997 than 1996 for FC-H following NT corn was due to the fall chisel-ha rrow (FC-H) treatment had to be delayed to wet weather until March 25, 1997. The NT continuous soybean and following NT corn showed 61 and 42% GRC, respectively.

Economic analysis: The CT soybean production system had more land preparation, field, labor, and fixed costs in 1994-1997 than NT and the FC-H system. Averaged across years (1995-97), however, the FC-H system yield and returns above total cost (RAT C) were similar to CT and both were higher than NT and FC-H continuous soybean systems. In 1994 and 1997 where NT yield was equal to CT, RATC for NT were similar or higher than CT.

Publications:

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Soybeans in Mississippi
Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station 
Mississippi State University Extension Service
 Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine

 
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