Abstract
Abstract Cover crops can improve soil physical properties and help to sustain agricultural crop yields. A 6‐year study conducted from 2017 to 2022 examined the effects of conservation soil management practices in a furrow‐irrigated continuous corn ( Zea mays L.) system on a silt‐loam soil (Typic Albaqualf) in the Lower Mississippi River Delta region of eastern Arkansas. This study compared the effects of conventional tillage (CT), no‐tillage (NT), and no‐tillage with cover crops (CC) in selected soil physical and chemical properties (i.e., soil bulk density ( D b ), porosity (ƒ t ), field capacity (Θ FC ), Permanent wilting point (Θ PWP ), Plant available water (Θ PAW ), Total nitrogen (TN), and Soil organic matter (SOM), grain yield, and water‐use efficiency. This study provides novel insights into the medium‐term effects of combining conservation practices like CC and NT on crop yield, irrigation decisions, and soil dynamics in furrow‐irrigated systems, a largely underexplored area in Arkansas. After 6 years of consistent management, soil properties in the upper 15 cm, including D b , ƒ t , Θ FC , Θ PWP , Θ PAW , TN, and SOM, were unaffected by treatments. The 6 years of consistent management practices were insufficient to induce substantial variations in the selected soil physical properties across the three soil managements. Averaged across years, corn yield did not differ between the CT and NT. The CC system reduced corn yield by 1.41 Mg ha −1 year −1 over the 6‐year experiment compared to the NT system alone. Overall, this medium‐term study demonstrated that corn producers can safely convert from a CT system to a NT system without a yield penalty.
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Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
Soil physical and chemical properties in the upper 15 cm were unaffected by soil-management treatments after six years.
- Taxon
- corn
Zea mays subsp. mayst0 - Treatment
- treatmentse0
- Outcome
- soil propertiese0
- Direction
- unaffectede0
- Qualifier
- upper 15 cme0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“After 6 years of consistent management, soil properties in the upper 15 cm, including D b , ƒ t , Θ FC , Θ PWP , Θ PAW , TN, and SOM, were unaffected by treatments.”
t0“corn”
Claim · model-written summary
Corn yield did not differ between conventional and no tillage, averaged across years.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Treatment
- NTe0
- Outcome
- corn yielde0
- Direction
- did not differe0
- Comparator
- CTe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Averaged across years, corn yield did not differ between the CT and NT.”
Claim · model-written summary
Cover crops with no tillage reduced corn yield by 1.41 Mg ha −1 year −1 compared with no tillage alone.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Treatment
- CC systeme0
- Outcome
- corn yielde0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- 1.41 Mg ha −1 year −1e0
- Comparator
- NT system alonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The CC system reduced corn yield by 1.41 Mg ha −1 year −1 over the 6‐year experiment compared to the NT system alone.”
Claim · model-written summary
Corn producers can convert from conventional to no tillage without a yield penalty.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Outcome
- convert from a CT system to a NT system without a yield penaltye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“corn producers can safely convert from a CT system to a NT system without a yield penalty.”
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