IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v186y2017icp127-138.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intensifying a semi-arid dryland crop rotation by replacing fallow with pea

Author

Listed:
  • Nielsen, David C.
  • Vigil, Merle F.

Abstract

Increasing dryland cropping system intensity in the semi-arid central Great Plains by reducing frequency of fallow can add diversity to cropping systems and decrease erosion potential. However elimination of the periodic fallow phase has been shown to reduce yields of subsequent crops in this region. The objective of this experiment was to determine how productivity of a 4-yr WCMF rotation [wheat (W, Triticum aestivum L.); corn (C, Zea mays L.); proso millet (M, Panicum miliaceum L.); fallow (F)] was affected when the fallow phase was replaced with pea (P, Pisum sativum L.). The effect of this intensification of the WCMF rotation on the available soil water content at planting, the water use, and the yield of each crop, and on total system productivity and net income was quantified by analyzing data over a 20-yr period from a long-term crop rotation experiment at Akron, CO. Large year-to-year variations were found for available soil water at planting, water use, and yield for all four crops. Pea water use resulted in significant reductions in available soil water at planting, water use, and yield for wheat and corn, but had little effect on those quantities in the millet crop. Total production on a seed mass basis was not different between the WCMF and WCMP rotations, but system net income for the WCMP rotation was 32% lower than for WCMF. Intensification of the WCMF rotation by replacing the fallow phase with pea production could be recommended as an alternative production method if pea seed costs and nitrogen fertilizer applied to the subsequent wheat crop can be reduced.

Suggested Citation

  • Nielsen, David C. & Vigil, Merle F., 2017. "Intensifying a semi-arid dryland crop rotation by replacing fallow with pea," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 127-138.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:186:y:2017:i:c:p:127-138
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2017.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377417300781
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greb, B. W., 1979. "Reducing Drought Effects on Croplands in the West-Central Great Plains," Agricultural Information Bulletins 309304, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deng, Jianqiang & Zhang, Zhixin & Liang, Zhiting & Li, Zhou & Yang, Xianlong & Wang, Zikui & Coulter, Jeffrey A. & Shen, Yuying, 2020. "Replacing summer fallow with annual forage improves crude protein productivity and water use efficiency of the summer fallow-winter wheat cropping system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Garba, Ismail I. & Bell, Lindsay W. & Chauhan, Bhagirath S. & Williams, Alwyn, 2024. "Optimizing ecosystem function multifunctionality with cover crops for improved agronomic and environmental outcomes in dryland cropping systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deng, Jianqiang & Zhang, Zhixin & Liang, Zhiting & Li, Zhou & Yang, Xianlong & Wang, Zikui & Coulter, Jeffrey A. & Shen, Yuying, 2020. "Replacing summer fallow with annual forage improves crude protein productivity and water use efficiency of the summer fallow-winter wheat cropping system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Saseendran, S.A. & Nielsen, D.C. & Ahuja, L.R. & Ma, L. & Lyon, D.J., 2013. "Simulated yield and profitability of five potential crops for intensifying the dryland wheat-fallow production system," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 175-192.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:186:y:2017:i:c:p:127-138. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.