background and objectives: suitable tillage methods and planting cover crops are such factors in sustainable agricultural systems, which play an important role in the sustainability of agricultural production systems. minimum and no-tillage systems methods that leave instead of usually more than 30 percent of crop residue on the soil surface, are used to reduce soil erosion, improve soil physic...

to evaluate the effect of cover crops, tillage systems and nitrogen (n) application rates on yield of forage sorghum (cv. kfs3), a factorial–spilt plot arrangement based on randomized complete block design with four replications was carried out at the research farms college of agriculture and natural resources, university of tehran, karaj, during the growing seasons of years 2005 and 2006. comb...

Sustainable soil and crop management practices that reduce soil erosion and nitrogen (N) leaching, conserve soil organic matter, and optimize otton and sorghum yields still remain a challenge. We examined the influence of three tillage practices (no-till, strip till and chisel till), four cover rops {legume [hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth)], nonlegume [rye (Secaele cereale L.)], vetch/rye bicu...

Soil microbial community structure and crop yield was investigated in field tomato production systems that compared black polyethylene mulch to hairy vetch mulch and inorganic N to organic N. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) hairy vetch cover cropping increases crop yield and significantly affects soil microbial community structure when compared to the standard plastic mulch and synthe...

Producers are interested in tactics for managing crop residues when growing corn after spring wheat. We compared five systems of managing spring wheat residues: conventional tillage, no-till, strip-till, cover crop (hairy vetch) with no-till, and cover crop with strip-till following spring wheat. Conventional tillage consisted of chisel plowing and disking, whereas strip-till consisted of tilli...

Effects of winter cover crop management on nematode densities associated with a subsequent corn (Zea mays) crop were examined in five sites in north Florida. Two sites had received winter cover crops of lupine (Lupinus angustifolius), and one site each had rye (Secale cereale), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum). In each site, five different management regime...

In 1987, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-ARS) National Sedimentation Laboratory, in cooper­ ation with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experi­ ment Station (MAFES) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), initiated an interdisciplinary research project to develop profitable and environmentally sustainable conservation production systems for silty upland...