The present study examined the effect of land conversion on carbon (C) fluxes using the eddy covariance technique at seven sites in southwestern Michigan (USA). Four sites had been managed as grasslands under the Conservation Reserve Program of the USDA. Three fields had previously been cultivated in a corn/soybean rotation with corn until 2008. The effects of land use change were studied durin...

The effects of no-tillage (NT), conventional tillage (CT), and crop rotation on soybean yield and population dynamics of Heterodera glycines were compared during a 7-year study in a silty clay loam soil with 6% organic matter. Either H. glycines-resistant 'Linford' soybean or susceptible 'Williams 82' soybean was rotated with corn and grown on 76-cm-wide rows in both tillage systems. Soybean wa...

Conservation practices are implemented on farm fields in the USA through Farm Bill programs; however, there is a need for greater verification that these practices provide environmental benefits (e.g., water quality). This study was conducted to assess the impact of Farm Bill eligible conservation practices on soluble P (SP) and total P (TP) losses from four fields that were monitored between 2...

Nitrate-nitrogen leached from the root zone of land in intensive corn production is a major groundwater contaminant in some of the intensively irrigated regions of the western Cornbelt, including central and western Nebraska. To obtain a clearer understanding of the amount and timing of nitrate leaching losses from irrigated crops, 14 monolithic percolation lysimeters were installed in 1989-199...

rotation is also more effective in preventing deep leaching of nitrate N than continuous corn (Katupitiya et al., Reduced tillage, including no-till, and crop rotation are common 1997; Varvel and Peterson, 1990). Reduced stress from practices for corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] production in the Midwest. Benefits of no-till vary with latitude pests may be one of the reas...

The compositions of the germinable weed seedbank and aboveground weed communities in a long-term tillage and rotation study were characterized 4, 5, and 6 yr (2002 to 2004) after the adoption of glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybean. Averaged across rotation, mean germinable weed seed density and diversity were greatest in the no-tillage treatment as compared to the minimumand conventional-tilla...

The western corn rootworm (WCR,Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is an important pest of corn. Annual crop rotation between corn and soybean disrupts the corn-dependent WCR life cycle and is widely adopted to manage this pest. This strategy selected for rotation-resistant (RR) WCR with reduced ovipositional fidelity to corn. Previous studies revealed that RR-WCR adults exhibit greater tol...

Producers are frequently most interested in economic comparisons of various cropping systems. We compared continuous corn (Zea mays L.) and continuous soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] with 2-, 3-, and 5-year rotations, the latter two including wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), using either chisel plow or no-tillage practices. Crop yield and returns to land and manag...

Recent developments in biofuel demand and the rapid adoption of modern transgenic hybrids are changing production systems towards more corn after corn, more intensive tillage, higher plant populations, and ever higher crop residue levels at harvest. Meeting society’s needs for food, feed, and fuel from grain corn, and in the future from corn stover, requires continued refinement of tillage syst...

Little information exists on the potential for N fertilizer application to corn ( L.) to affect NO emissions during subsequent unfertilized crops in a rotation. To determine if N fertilizer application to corn affects NO emissions during subsequent crops in rotation, we measured NO emissions for 3 yr (2011-2013) in an Iowa, corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation with three N fertilizer rates appli...