Corn and Cotton Nutrient Accumulation after Thirty-Four Years of Conventional and Conservation Tillage.

Tillage influences the physical and chemical properties of soil and the microbial diversity. We conducted an experiment in 2012 and 2013 to investigate the effect of tillage on early season cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and corn (Zea mays L.) growth and nutrient accumulation on a Norfolk loamy sand soil. Using plots that were established in 1978 to compare conventional to conservation tillage, plant biomass and nutrient concentrations in whole cotton and corn plants were measured for eight weeks at two week intervals beginning approximately two weeks after emergence. There was little difference between the two tillage systems for plant biomass at any sampling time. Similarly, concentrations of most nutrients in the plant tissues were not affected by tillage. Phosphorus and sulfur concentrations of the plants were impacted by tillage. Plants grown with conservation tillage had higher concentrations of phosphorus but lower concentrations of sulfur than conventional tillage at most sampling dates in each year.