2021
Drainage and Tillage Research site: Enhancing Soybean Production with Residue Management and Cover Crops
Home
Contributor/Checkoff:
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
DiseaseField management Pest
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota
Co-Principal Investigators:
Fabian Fernandez, University of Minnesota
Project Code:
10-15-48-21235
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council
$50,000
Institution Funded:
University of Minnesota
$50,000
Brief Project Summary:

While soybean is a competitive and resilient crop, early-season growth and development is critical to maximizing yields; early spring vigor and growth rates determine yield potential. Rainfall patterns have shifted significantly, with more frequent heavy rainfall events, making drainage, tillage, and residue/cover crop research critical. In this project, we will use the Drainage x Tillage research site to investigate the effects of residues on early-planted soybean and examine the three-way interactions between residue quantity and quality, tillage, and drainage. We will evaluate effects of drainage, tillage, and residue on soil temperatures, moisture, and nutrient availability at the seed, and in the rhizosphere from planting through harvest.

Key Benefactors:
farmers, agronomists, ag retailers, extension specialists

Information And Results
Project Deliverables

Final Project Results

Update:

View uploaded report PDF file

FFY 20/21 End of Year Project Report

The UofMN/MSR&PC Drainage and Tillage Research Site: Enhancing Soybean Production with Residue Management and Cover Crops
Carlos Sanchez, Fabian Fernandez, and Seth Naeve

Although soybean is considered a highly competitive and resilient crop, early-season growth and development are crucial to output maximization. As early planting is vital, early spring vigor and growth rates dictate production potential. In other words, planting dates have minimal effect on soybean yields, but emergence dates and early season vigor show a significant impact. Natural and artificial landscapes are adapted to historical climates and corresponding weather variations. Precipitation variations can disturb a wide range of ecological processes. For example, in 2021, Minnesota experienced a catastrophic drought due to chronic rainfall deficits mixed with above-normal temperatures across the state, emphasizing the importance of effective crop management studies for risk avoidance.

This project focuses on a broad range of crop management scenarios impacting drainage, tillage, and crop residue management on soil temperatures, moisture content, and nutrient availability at the seed and in the rhizosphere throughout the vegetative and reproductive stages of soybean.

By incorporating the crop management treatments indicated above, it is also possible to examine all two and three-way interactions on soybean yield and seed quality and the main and interacting effects on soil chemical and physical parameters. We are conducting a thorough physical, chemical, and biological analysis of a long-term drainage and tillage research site in order to assess the long-term impact of drainage and tillage on Minnesota soil productivity.

Preliminary results show that conventional and strip tillage enhanced soybean growth starting early and continuing throughout the season. The sampling of soybean roots showed that plants in conventional tillage and in undrained soil conditions had longer roots. Although the average of corn yields was inconsistent, drainage had a smaller effect on yield and strip tillage tended to perform better than the conventional tillage treatments. Lastly, there is significant interaction between drainage and tillage during an unusually dry growing season. Which suggests a need for additional years of research.

This research provides a better understanding of the implementation of fall tillage and cover crops under different soil drainage conditions (drained and undrained) on early planted soybean. The results of this study will eventually lead to a long-term strategic framework to address significant soybean production concerns that do not always arise on level, consistent, well-drained, conventionally-tilled soils, specifically in Minnesota.

We would like to thanks the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council and the University of Minnesota for the research funding provided.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.