2014 sarda trials site · to assess the effects of sub-soiling, shallow tillage and tillage...

2014 SARDA Trials Site

Kabal S. Gill Research Coordinator

SARDA Falher, Alberta, Canada

www.sarda.ca

Acknowledgements • Alberta Government (Agri. & Forestry)

• Municipalities of Smoky River, Big

Lakes, Greenview & Northern Sunrise.

• SARDA members and Board

• Other SARDA staff

High Clay content

+High Mg +Heavy Equipment +Low OM

Potentially POOR

Root penetration Water infiltration Soil aeration Plant growth

Compact Soil

To assess the effects of sub-soiling, shallow tillage and tillage radishes on soil properties and crop production on a direct seeded field.

Location: 4 miles south of Falher, South Peace. Legal: NW17-77-20W5 GPS: 55.674 N, 117.208 W Experimental design: RCBD ( 4 replications). 0-15 cm soil: 51 g kg-1 OM, 5.7 pH

Spring Soil Moisture (SSM) &

Monthly Rain, mm

Time SSM May June July Aug. Total

2011 37 31 183 122 34 407

2012 70 50 91 77 77 365

2013 80 20 102 65 14 281

Normal 74 44 81 78 57 334

1. Sub-soiling (AGP): Fall 2011 - 30 cm depth, using Agrow Plow. Spring 2012 plots had 10 cm tillage.

2. Conventional tillage (Till): 10 cm deep, by shovels. Fall & Spring

3. Direct seeded (Chk).

4. Tillage radishes (TR): Direct seeded tillage radishes in 2012 and canola in 2013

Fall 2011- Sub-soiling and tillage. 2012: Wheat – AGP, Till, Chk plots Tillage radishes in TR plots. 2013: Canola (all plots).

30 cm long stakes used to indicate sub-soiling and conventional tillage depth.

Plots were 3.66 m wide and 35 m long. May seeded tillage radishes grew like

canola with small roots. They were mowed at July end & reseeded a week later.

Soil Measurements PENETRATION RESISTANCE (PR): Used a SC900 Soil Compaction meter (Spectrum technologies). SOIL MOISTURE: In 2012, used HH2 meter and Theta Probe ML3 (Delta Device) for the 0-5 cm, & used Thermal Domain Reflectometry (TDR) for the 0-20 cm. In 2013, used HH2 meter and PR2 Probe for different soil layers. INFILTRATION RATE: Used Guelph Permemetre on May 10, 2012. Assumed steady state rate when > 3 consecutive readings had very similar values. BULK DENSITY: Collected 2.5 cm diameter samples with a hand pushed sampler.

Results

Measured AGP Till Chk LSD0.

05 Sig. CV

% Height, cm 89.6 89.4 90.6 3.05 NS 2.0

Maturity, days 90.5 88.0 93.5 3.31 * 2.1

Yield, t/ha 3.20 3.20 3.11 0.41 NS 7.5

Bshl Wt, lb/bu 55.1 55.4 54.7 0.83 NS 0.9

Measured AGP Till Chk TR LSD0.05 Sig. CV%

Maturity, days

104 105 104 111 1.1 *** 0.7

Yield, t/ha 3.54 3.07 3.48 3.90 0.299 ** 5.3 Bushel Wt., lb/bu

56.3 55.5 56.1 55.4 0.75 ł 0.8

Soil moisture (vol%) in 2012

Date AGP Till Chk Radish LSD Sig CV 0-5 cm

May 25 34.7 32.6 36.8 35.4 3.56 NS 6.4 June 15 22.0 20.1 22.6 21.8 3.25 NS 9.4 June 29 13.8 12.1 13.1 12.5 3.06 NS 14.9 July 13 9.2 12.2 12.0 14.2 2.90 * 15.3

0-20 cm May 10 21.3 22.5 26.9 26.7 3.77 * 9.7 May 25 28.8 28.7 33.5 30.9 2.54 ** 5.2 June 15 23.3 23.4 25.2 24.8 2.69 NS 7.0 June 29 13.9 13.4 14.6 15.3 2.17 NS 15.2

0

5

10

15

20

25

21-J

un

28-J

un

5-Ju

l

12-J

ul

19-J

ul

26-J

ul

2-A

ug

9-A

ug

16-A

ug

23-A

ug

30-A

ug

6-S

ep

13-S

ep

AGP

Till

ChK

LSD

Soil Moisture (vol%) in 2013: 0-10 cm

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

21-J

un

28-J

un

5-Ju

l

12-J

ul

19-J

ul

26-J

ul

2-A

ug

9-A

ug

16-A

ug

23-A

ug

30-A

ug

6-S

ep

13-S

ep

AGP

Till

ChK

LSD


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

21-J

un

28-J

un

5-Ju

l

12-J

ul

19-J

ul

26-J

ul

2-A

ug

9-A

ug

16-A

ug

23-A

ug

30-A

ug

6-S

ep

13-S

ep

AGP

Till

ChK

LSD


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

21-J

un

28-J

un

5-Ju

l

12-J

ul

19-J

ul

26-J

ul

2-A

ug

9-A

ug

16-A

ug

23-A

ug

30-A

ug

6-S

ep

13-S

ep

AGP

Till

ChK

LSD


Bulk density (g/cm3) on May 10, 2013

Depth cm

AGP Till Check Radish LSD Sig CV

0-7.5 1.15 1.31 1.28 ND 0.081 *** 3.8

7.5-15 1.29 1.40 1.43 ND 0.116 * 4.9

15-22.5 1.42 1.42 1.41 ND 0.043 NS 1.8

22.5-30 1.48 1.44 1.51 ND 0.096 NS 3.8

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2.5 5

7.5 10

12.5 15

17.5 20

22.5 25

27.5 30

32.5 35

37.5 40

42.5 45

AGP

Till

ChK

TR

Penetration resistance (PSI) on May 15, 2012

Depth, cm

Depth, cm

AGP Till Check Radish LSD0.05 Sign CV%

2.5 86 84 109 102 55.8 NS 36.0 5 125 168 248 226 79.4 * 25.4 7.5 132 181 280 266 92.3 * 26.4 10 123 198 274 269 40.2 *** 10.0 12.5 112 227 262 259 42.5 *** 11.1 15 107 167 263 263 17.5 114 255 245 243 68.3 ** 19.5 20 125 257 227 222 48.1 ** 14.2 22.5 184 240 206 205 71.5 NS 21.0 25 191 231 201 188 58.9 NS 17.8 27.5 193 232 184 180 53.4 NS 16.6 30 190 215 170 170 31.9 * 10.5 32.5 203 207 165 168 24.0 ** 7.9 35 203 204 166 165 45.4 NS 14.0 37.5 205 196 165 175 36.6 ł 12.1 40 208 198 166 174 43.2 NS 14.2 42.5 215 210 172 173 45.5 ł 14.5 45 229 236 180 181 69.6 NS 20.6

Penetration resistance (PSI) in the soil with different treatments on May 15 in 2012

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2.5 5

7.5 10

12.5 15

17.5 20

22.5 25

27.5 30

32.5 35

37.5 40

42.5 45

AGP

Till

ChK

Penetration resistance (PSI) on June 28, 2013

Depth, cm

Penetration resistance (PSI) in the soil with different treatments on June 28 in 2013

Depth, cm

AGP Till Check Radish LSD0.05 Sign CV%

2.5 35 37 45 ND 28.1 NS 41.6 5 51 50 90 ND

7.5 104 81 142 ND 51.9 ł 27.5 10 131 143 174 ND 54.3 NS 21.0

12.5 167 197 193 ND 76.8 NS 23.9 15 175 209 200 ND 75.6 NS 22.5

17.5 182 203 191 ND 75.6 NS 22.8 20 197 211 189 ND 56.8 NS 16.5

22.5 199 225 191 ND 54.2 NS 15.3 25 193 220 189 ND 54.0 NS 15.6

27.5 200 217 192 ND 33.8 NS 9.6 30 196 216 195 ND 29.6 NS 8.5

32.5 212 215 184 ND 32.7 NS 9.3 35 216 209 180 ND 42.2 NS 12.1

37.5 224 217 173 ND 38.9 * 8.9 40 235 245 181 ND 63.0 ł 16.5

42.5 227 261 187 ND 79.1 NS 20.3 45 219 282 206 ND 105.2 NS 25.8

Infiltration Rate (cm /hr) May 10, 2012

Treat Rate SD

AGP 4.95 2.40

Till 5.68 2.26

Chk 1.46 1.08

Crops: AGP and Till treatments showed no

benefits for crop production. TR had no crop harvested in 2012 and increased yield of 2013 canola.

Soil moisture: In 2012: In 0-5 cm tended to be lower in AGP in July;

in 0-20 cm tended to lower in AGP & Till than Chk & TR.

In 2013: Tended to be lower with AGP & Till than Chk

in top 20 cm . Tended to be higher with AGP than others in later part of season in 20-40 cm .

Bulk density: Reduced by AGP in 0-15 cm.

PR: Both AGP and Till reduced PR in shallow soil but tended to increase PR in soil deeper than their operational depths.

Infiltration rate: Increased by AGP & Till treatments. Probably disturbed / loose soil increased the lateral flow.

Overall: No clear trend of benefits from sub-soiling.

www.sarda.ca Summer student positions available

http://www.sarda.ca/

Presented at the Alberta Soil Science Workshop, Feb. 16-18,

2016, Grande Prairie

2014 sarda trials site · to assess the effects of sub-soiling, shallow tillage and tillage...

Documents