2018 SWCS International Annual Conference July 29-August 1, 2018 Albuquerque Convention Center

1. Soil Health and Maize Yield
Analysis Detects
Long-Term Tillage and
Cropping Effect
Aaron Ristow
Extension Associate
On behalf of
Dr. Harold van Es
Dr. Marcio Nunes
Robert Schindelbeck
soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu
COMPREHENSIVE
ASSESSMENT OF SOIL HEALTH
PHOTO: sare.org

2. Soil Health is…
Full NRCS definition used by NRCS national Soil Health Initiative:
“The continued capacity of the soil to function as a vital living
ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.”

3. Quantification
“You don’t know if you don’t measure….”
“What gets measured, gets done…..”

4. Management for healthy soils

5. Cornell Soil Health Assessment Framework
• Publically available since 2006
• Identifies soil constraints
• Measures 16 indicators
o Representing agronomically important
soil processes
o Consistent and easy to implement
o Includes standard nutrient test
• Guide for management decisions
o Values interpreted
with scoring functions
o Report includes written
interpretations and management
suggestions table

6. Cornell Soil Health Assessment Pages 9-10
Respiration
Low
Constrained and Suboptimal indicators are flagged in the Report management suggestions table
Constraints Identified, Explained, and Prioritized

7. We know what works……
From: Lehman et al., 2015
Develop plans addressing concerns and opportunities

8. • Integrate agronomic
science with grower
realities
• Create a specific
short-term schedule
of management
practices
• Specific to
management unit
• Develop overall long-
term strategy
Soil Health Management Planning Process

9. Musgrave Research Farm - Aurora, NY
Continuous corn for 22 yrs on 6 replicated plots
No-till (NT) vs. Plow-till (PT)
In 2013, interseeded cover crop (CC) vs. no cover (NC)
Honeoye-Lima silt loam
Nunes et al, 2018. (Geoderma)
Current Research

10. Soil Health Indicators and Management
0
5
10
15
20
25
PT-NC PT-CC NT-NC NT-CC
AggregateStability(%)
B
B
A
A
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
PT-NC PT-CC NT-NC NT-CC
OM(%)
B
B
AB
A
0
• Soil health increases from reducing tillage over the long term
• Adding cover crops resulted in benefits after only a few season

11. Soil Health Indicators and Management
• Soil health increases from reducing tillage over the long term
• Adding cover crops resulted in benefits after only a few season
300
375
450
525
600
PT-NC PT-CC NT-NC NT-CC
ActiveC(ppm)
B B
A
A
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
PT-NC PT-CC NT-NC NT-CC
Protein(mg/g)
B
AB
A
A
0

12. Soilhealth
years
reduced tillage
cover cropping
reduced tillage, cover cropping
reduced tillage, cover cropping, perennial forage rotation
crop, manure/compost
Combining the various management practices that
promote soil health can have an additive effect
Green manure
cover crop
Strip tillage

13. 50
75
100
125
150
2013 2014 2015
Relativeyield(PT-NC=100%)
years
PT-CC
NT-NC
NT-CC
PT-NC=100%
(A)
Musgrave Soil Health Yields
22
24
26
28
30
32
PT-NC PT-CC NT-NC NT-CC PT NT NC CC
Totalyield(Mgha-1)
Treatment
a†
b†
a
a
A
A
AB
B
Treatment Mean
(B)
0
22 years continuous corn
3 years of cover crop
3 seasons of corn silage yields
Treatments by tillage and time of
corn monoculture factors
Reduced tillage management
resulting in significantly higher yields
CC shows improvements too
USDA-NRCS

14. Soil Health Indicators and Yields –
Lessons learned from NC State
• Paper published in Soil Science Society of America Journal (Roper et al., 2017, SSSAJ)
• Long-term management trials from three distinct physiographic regions
• We focused on the 1 region with clear gradation of tillage intensity –
moldboard plowing (spring disking), chisel plowing (in-row subsoiling), and no-till
Upper Piedmont Research Station, Reidsville –
32 years of consistent management
• 26 years corn/soybean rotation
• 9 tillage treatments replicated 4 times
• Managed with chemical pesticides and fertilizer
• Annual fertilizer N application in spring for corn, none
for soybeans
• Crop stover remained in the field to decompose after
harvest
• Tilled treatments plowed crop residue into soil before
next crop planted

15. Moldboard Plow Chisel Till Minimum Till
Soil Health Indicators and Yields - Corn
USDA-NRCS

16. Moldboard Plow Chisel Till Minimum Till
Long-Term Tillage Studies - North Carolina:
Maize Yield is related to Soil Health Indicators
Protein
PAggregate Stability
RespirationMnActive C
Organic Matter Mg
Yieldkg/ha

18. Assessment of Soil Health Summary
• Soil health important to resilience and crop productivity
• Measure to know
• Identify constraints, target management
• Major management changes need to be carefully planned
and guided through a planning framework
• Reducing tillage and cover cropping appear to relate
improvement in key soil health indicators

19. 4R +
4R simple concept but
challenging to implement
There are a multitude of
inputs to getting the right
rate
Integrating soil health and
nutrient management
through the use of
advanced tools:
• Adapt-N dynamic N
management tool
• Soil Health Assessment
Sela and van Es, 2018 (JSWC)

20. http://www.sare.org/Learning-Center/Books
Resources
Information!