TY - JOUR
T1 - Groundwater quality and crop-yield responses to tillage management on a Sparta sand
AU - Lowery, B.
AU - Hartwig, R. C.
AU - Stoltenberg, D. E.
AU - Fermanich, K. J.
AU - McSweeney, K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Contribution from the Management Systems Evaluation Areas (MSEA) program, a joint Research and Education Program, supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA–ARS) and Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) program under the Water Quality Initiative. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Pesticide Research Program also supported the research. Trade and company names are included for the benefit of the reader and do not imply endorsement by the University of Wisconsin.
PY - 1998/10/2
Y1 - 1998/10/2
N2 - Groundwater beneath sandy soils in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley has more detections and larger concentrations of atrazine and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) than groundwater beneath other areas of sandy soils with similar genesis in Wisconsin, USA. A 2.8-ha field study initiated in 1989 compared water quality and production potential of no-tillage (NT) and moldboard-plow tillage (MB) for corn (Zea mays L) production with, and without, irrigation. Ridge-tillage (RT) under irrigation for corn and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was added in 1991 to test the value of banding herbicide and placing N in the hydrologically inactive ridge. Soybean grown under NT and MB was added in 1993. Atrazine residues and NO3-N were determined in soil and groundwater from 1989 to 1995. Soil samples were taken to a 1.5-m depth and groundwater samples collected from the surface of the aquifer. Atrazine and NO3-N leaching were related to rainfall and/or irrigation. Leaching of atrazine and NO3-N to groundwater below no-irrigation treatment was similar to that under RT with enough irrigation to meet evapotranspiration demands - atrazine application in RT was only one-third of that used for NT and MB. Atrazine concentrations in soil samples were inconclusive because of limited atrazine detection. Corn yields for RT, MB and NT under irrigation to meet evapotranspiration averaged 8.6, 8.4, and 7.0 Mg ha-1, respectively. However, there were no statistical differences between RT and MB, primarily because of a different yield rank between years. Soybean yields, averaged over the study period, for MB were 3.07 Mg ha-1, which is significantly greater than that for NT at 2.07 and RT at 2.19 Mg ha-1. Atrazine loading from 1991 to 1994 under RT, where it was band applied, was 1.41 x 10-3 kg ha-1 year-1 compared to 3.17 x 10-3 kg ha-1 year-1 for broadcast applications in the MB/NT systems. Nitrate loading on a 4-year average for RT was 23.0 kg ha-1 year-1 compared to 45.2 kg ha-1 year-1 for MB/NT. The RT system, where atrazine was band applied over the top of the row and N was side-dressed, reduced atrazine leaching by 55% and NO3-N leaching by 49% when compared with NT/MB where atrazine was broadcast and N not side-dressed, selective placement of agrichemicals in hydrologically neutral zones of the RT system reduced leaching to less than one-half of that when placement was not selective.
AB - Groundwater beneath sandy soils in the Lower Wisconsin River Valley has more detections and larger concentrations of atrazine and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) than groundwater beneath other areas of sandy soils with similar genesis in Wisconsin, USA. A 2.8-ha field study initiated in 1989 compared water quality and production potential of no-tillage (NT) and moldboard-plow tillage (MB) for corn (Zea mays L) production with, and without, irrigation. Ridge-tillage (RT) under irrigation for corn and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was added in 1991 to test the value of banding herbicide and placing N in the hydrologically inactive ridge. Soybean grown under NT and MB was added in 1993. Atrazine residues and NO3-N were determined in soil and groundwater from 1989 to 1995. Soil samples were taken to a 1.5-m depth and groundwater samples collected from the surface of the aquifer. Atrazine and NO3-N leaching were related to rainfall and/or irrigation. Leaching of atrazine and NO3-N to groundwater below no-irrigation treatment was similar to that under RT with enough irrigation to meet evapotranspiration demands - atrazine application in RT was only one-third of that used for NT and MB. Atrazine concentrations in soil samples were inconclusive because of limited atrazine detection. Corn yields for RT, MB and NT under irrigation to meet evapotranspiration averaged 8.6, 8.4, and 7.0 Mg ha-1, respectively. However, there were no statistical differences between RT and MB, primarily because of a different yield rank between years. Soybean yields, averaged over the study period, for MB were 3.07 Mg ha-1, which is significantly greater than that for NT at 2.07 and RT at 2.19 Mg ha-1. Atrazine loading from 1991 to 1994 under RT, where it was band applied, was 1.41 x 10-3 kg ha-1 year-1 compared to 3.17 x 10-3 kg ha-1 year-1 for broadcast applications in the MB/NT systems. Nitrate loading on a 4-year average for RT was 23.0 kg ha-1 year-1 compared to 45.2 kg ha-1 year-1 for MB/NT. The RT system, where atrazine was band applied over the top of the row and N was side-dressed, reduced atrazine leaching by 55% and NO3-N leaching by 49% when compared with NT/MB where atrazine was broadcast and N not side-dressed, selective placement of agrichemicals in hydrologically neutral zones of the RT system reduced leaching to less than one-half of that when placement was not selective.
KW - Atrazine
KW - Fertilizer placement
KW - Herbicide
KW - Nitrate
KW - Ridge tillage
KW - Solute flux
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U2 - 10.1016/S0167-1987(98)00148-2
DO - 10.1016/S0167-1987(98)00148-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0032476182
SN - 0167-1987
VL - 48
SP - 225
EP - 237
JO - Soil and Tillage Research
JF - Soil and Tillage Research
IS - 3
ER -