Production and Environmental Responses from an Integrated Crop-Livestock Study in the Southeastern USA.

Integration of crops and livestock could be either detrimental or beneficial to the environment and in particular to soil, depending upon timing and intensity of animal traffic and residue cover of the soil surface.  Soil properties of a Typic Kanhapludult in Georgia were analyzed from 34 experimental units within a 12-ha field experiment that was conducted from 2002 to 2009.  Treatments consistent throughout the study included tillage [conventional tillage (CT), no tillage (NT)] and cover crop utilization (conservation cover, grazed by cattle), while cropping system was changed during the course of the study in three different phases.  Crop and animal characteristics and soil properties and processes were measured throughout the study period.  This presentation will focus on key response variables that can be used to identify either (a) constraints to successful adoption of integrated crop-livestock systems or (b) indicators of resource efficiency to promote such systems.