title: Can Novel Management Practice Improve Soil and Environmental Quality and Sustain Crop Yield Simultaneously?
abstract: Little is known about management practices that can simultaneously improve soil and environmental quality and sustain crop yields. The effects of novel and traditional management practices that included a combination of tillage, crop rotation, and N fertilization on soil C and N, global warming potential (GWP), greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI), and malt barley (Hordeum vulgarie L.) yield and quality were examined under non-irrigated and irrigated cropping systems from 2008 to 2011 in eastern Montana and western North Dakota, USA. In loamy soil under non-irrigated condition in eastern Montana, novel and traditional management practices were no-till malt barley-pea (Pisum sativum L.) with 80 kg N ha(-1) and conventional till malt barley-fallow with 80 kg N ha(-1), respectively. In sandy loam soil under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions in western North Dakota, novel and traditional management practices included no-till malt barley-pea with 67 (non-irrigated) to 134 kg N ha(-1) (irrigated) and conventional till malt barley with 67 (non-irrigated) to 134 kg N ha(-1) (irrigated), respectively. Compared with the traditional management practice, soil organic C (SOC) and total N (STN) at 0-120 cm were 5% greater with the novel management practice under non-irrigated condition in eastern Montana and under irrigated condition in western North Dakota, but were not different under non-irrigated condition in western North Dakota. In both places under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions, total applied N rate, residual soil NO3-N content at 0-120 cm, global warming potential (GWP), and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) were 15 to 70% lower with the novel than the traditional management practice. Malt barley yield and quality were not different between the two practices in both places. Novel management practices, such as no-till malt barley-pea with reduced N rate, can simultaneously enhance soil and environmental quality, reduce N input, and sustain crop yield compared with traditional practices in the northern Great Plains, USA.
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS, Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory, Sidney, MT 59270, United States of America.
authors.forename: Upendra M
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Sainju
mesh_terms: D057914:Agricultural Irrigation; D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development*; D017753:Ecosystem; D001467:Hordeum / Q000254:growth & development; D009009:Montana; D009658:North Dakota; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil