No-tillage effects on corn and soybean yield and profitability: based on a long-term field trial of Black soil In Northeast China.
Citation
Zhou, G.Y., Zhang, X.-P., Fan, R.-Q., Liang, A.-Z., Huang, D.D., and Yang, X.M. (2015). "No-tillage effects on corn and soybean yield and profitability: based on a long-term field trial of Black soil In Northeast China.", Journal of Jilin Agricultural University, 37, pp. 260-267. doi : 10.13327/j.jjlau.2015.2235
Abstract
In order to evaluate the feasibility of no-tillage (NT) practice for black soils in Northeast China, knowledge of the compound effects of different tillage and rotation on crop yield and profitability is required. The variation of corn and soybean yields and economic returns were studied based on a long-term field study (12 years) which includes NT, moldboard plow (MP) and ridge tillage (RT) combined with continuous corn(C- C- C), corn-soybean (C- S), and corn-corn-soybean (C- C-S) rotations. Under C- S rotation, corn and soybean yields were similar to or slightly higher in NT than in MP and RT. The profitability for corn production was 18. 7% and 3. 2% higher in NT than that in MP and RT, respectively. Profitability for soybean production was also obviously higher in NT than in MP and RT (P < 0. 05). There were no differences in crop yield or profitability between C- C- S and C- C- C rotations. The C- S under NT produced better yield and profitability, particularly in dry years, than C- C- C and C- C- S rotations ( P < 0. 05). NT combined with C- S would be a good practice to increase crop yield and profitability for the black soil in Northeast China.