The Impacts of a Double Cropping System on Soil Water and Crop Yields.

Double cropping can increase farm profit and food availability while providing some of the same benefits as cover crops. Additionally, reduced tillage systems are often endorsed as a tool for best management practices because of the potential to increase soil porosity, aggregation, and organic matter. Improving soil properties such as infiltration rate should increase the resiliency and profitability of cropping systems. However, the effectiveness of implementing both double cropping and reduced tillage in a winter wheat system to improve these properties in Texas is less clear. Additionally, yield from the cropping system is an important factor for farm sustainability. A split-plot, randomized complete block design was implemented at three Texas A&M research stations in Beeville, Lubbock, and Thrall, Texas. Each study location is within a different Texas ecoregion. Three tillage treatments were administered: conventional, strip, and no-till, and five double crop treatments—fallow, sesame, grain sorghum, cowpea, and a nine-species, cover crop mix. Measurements include wet aggregate stability, soil infiltration rate, and neutron moisture meter measurements. We hypothesize the above practices combined have the potential to improve soil water capture and storage which would lead to increased wheat yields and total farm profits.