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Tillage Requirements for Integrating Winter‐Annual Grazing in Cotton Production: Plant Water Status and Productivity
Author(s) -
Siri-Prieto G.,
Reeves D. Wayne,
Raper R. L.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2004.0258
Subject(s) - agronomy , tillage , loam , plough , environmental science , subsoil , grazing , conventional tillage , forage , chisel , soil water , biology , soil science , geography , archaeology
Integrating livestock with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) offers profitable alternatives for producers in the southeastern USA, but could result in soil water depletion and soil compaction. We conducted a 3‐yr field study on a Dothan loamy sand (fine‐loamy, kaolinitic, thermic Plinthic Kandiudult) in southern Alabama to develop a conservation tillage system for integrating cotton with winter‐annual grazing of stocker cattle under rainfed conditions. Winter annual forages and tillage systems were evaluated in a strip‐plot design where winter forages were oat ( Avena sativa L.) and annual ryegrass ( Lolium mutiflorum L.). Tillage systems included moldboard and chisel plowing and combinations of noninversion deep tillage (none, in‐row subsoil, or paratill) with or without disking. We evaluated forage dry matter, N concentration, average daily gain, net returns from grazing, soil water content, and cotton leaf stomatal conductance, plant populations, and yield. Net returns from winter‐annual grazing were between US$185 to US$200 ha −1 yr −1 Soil water content was reduced by 15% with conventional tillage or deep tillage, suggesting that cotton rooting was increased by these systems. Oat increased cotton stands by 25% and seed‐cotton yields by 7% compared with ryegrass. Strict no‐till resulted in the lowest yields—30% less than the overall mean (3.69 Mg ha −1 ). Noninversion deep tillage in no‐till (especially paratill) following oat was the best tillage system combination (3.97 Mg ha −1 ) but deep tillage did not increase cotton yields with conventional tillage. Integrating winter‐annual grazing can be achieved using noninversion deep tillage following oat in a conservation tillage system, providing producers extra income while protecting the soil resource.