Regional Project Focuses on Droughty Soils

Harvesting corn silage in Pennsylvania

Greg Roth
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Penn State
January 2000

A key problem in our mid-Atlantic Region is that frequently we encounter droughts on a regular basis. Many of our soils are shallow or sandy and corn yields are severely impacted on these soils. As a result we are often unable to meet the demands for corn in our region. Recently several land grant researchers in the region have joined forces to look for ways to manage our variable soils more efficiently. This project is known as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Cropping Systems Project, and is funded by the Foundation for Agronomic Research, through support of numerous industry contributors and the United Soybean Board.

Dr. Mark Alley, from Virginia Tech, heads up the project. Other collaborators on the project are from N. C. State, University of Maryland and Penn State. The Main Study Site of the project is at the Camden Farm in Port Royal, Virginia. This is a large corn/wheat/soybean grain farm with two major soil types: droughty sandy loam Bojac soils and productive Wickham sandy loam soils.

On these soils 3 different grain crop rotations have been established: 1) a standard no-till corn, conventional till wheat, double crop soybean rotation, 2) no-till corn, no-till soybeans, notill wheat, no-till double crop soybeans, and 3) no-till wheat, no-till double crop soybeans, no-till barley, no-till double crop corn. The objective is to determine the profitability of each rotation the different soils.

In the first year of the study, 1998, an economic analysis indicated rotation 1, the corn/wheat soybean rotation would be the most profitable on The Bojac soils or on a farm with an equal portion of both soils. For a farm with all of the productive Wickham soils, Rotation 2 would be the most profitable. These results are based on yields during the first year (1998) when full season corn averaged 158 bu/Acre, double crop corn, 78 bu/A, full season soybeans, 35 bu/A, double crop soybeans, 24 to 29 bu/A, Conv. Till wheat 64 bu/A, notill wheat 55 bu/A and notill barley 92 bu/A.

The other researchers in the project are studying various components of the system and new technologies that could improve the base system. At N.C. State, for example, Ron Heininger and Gail Wilkerson are developing variable rate N and variable rate weed management systems. We are evaluating starter fertilizers and plant populations for corn here in Pennsylvania. The project has established a web site to share the results of the main study and all of the satellite projects as they progress: www.farmresearch.com.