Tillage, Crop Rotation, and N Fertility Impact on Spring Wheat Production in Carrington, North Dakota.

Influence of crop rotation, tillage, and nitrogen fertility on crop productivity and soil chemical properties in Carrington, ND

Diverse cropping systems research is gaining more attention in North Dakota with the aim at reducing farm risks associated with soil degradation, increasing corn and soybean acreage, and shifts in climate and commodity pricing. This study evaluated the effects of crop rotation, tillage, and N regimes on spring wheat production and soil chemical properties. The field design was a split, split plot with rotation as the main plot, tillage (conventional-CT, minimum -MT, and no-till-NT), as sub plots and N rates (0, 56, 112 kg N ha^-1 as urea, and 56 kg N ha^-1 as manure) as sub sub-plots. The three crop rotations were, Rot 1: hard red spring wheat (HRSW) - sunflower - barley - soybean, Rot 2: HRSW - Soybean - Corn - Field Pea, and Rot 3: HRSW - corn - soybean - canola. All entry points within each rotation are present every year. Increases in soil organic matter (SOM), phosphorus and pH across rotation, tillage and fertilizer management were associated with application of composted manure. Grain yield responded positively to all levels of applied urea and composted manure. Average grain yields were generally higher for HRSW following canola (Rot 3) than soybean (Rot 1) and field pea (Rot 2). This is probably due wheat benefitting from higher residual N following low yielding canola than from the legume plots. The effect of tillage on grain yields was significantly higher (p < 0.05) for CT than NT for barley, HRSW, and field pea. Our goal is to have growers adopt management practices that integrate crop rotations, conservation tillage practices and organic amendments to improve yields, nutrient use efficiency and soil health.