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Vertical Tillage DiscussionDeAnn Presley, Soil Management SpecialistKansas State University [email protected]
Outline• Vertical tillage definition
– Shallow: 0‐3” max–Deep: as deep as needed (ripping)
• Get to know my audience– Tillage types (No‐till? Vertical till?)–Deep vs shallow?–Popular makes?
• Why is vertical tillage used in OK?
Deep vs. shallow
Effect of Tillage on Rotated Corn, Univ. of Illinois, NWRC, 2004‐2009
Tillage Treatments• 1. No‐till.• 2. Dyna‐drive: shallow, thorough residue incorporation, spring tillage.
• 3. Aerway: shallow, minimal residue incorporation, fall tillage.
• 4. Blue‐Jet sub‐soiler: deep, minimal residue incorporation, fall tillage.
• 5. Chisel plow: deep, thorough residue incorporation, fall tillage + spring field cultivator pass.
Effect of Tillage on Rotated Corn, Univ. of Illinois, NWRC, 2004‐2009
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205
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No‐till Aerway DynaDrive Sub‐soil Chisel
Corn Yield (b
pa)
LSD 0.05 = 4.8 bpa
Yearly Rank of Yields For Tillage Treatments in Rotated Corn, Univ. of Illinois, NWRC, 2004‐09.year Aerway DynaDrive Chisel No‐till Sub‐soiler2004 3 4 2 5 12005 5 3 1 4 22006 4 2 1 5 32007 5 2 1 3 42008 3 2 1 5 42009 3 2 1 4 5
Avg. 3.83 2.50 1.17 4.33 3.17
Why Residue Is Important
• Residue can be limiting in some environments• Residue is key in preventing soil erosion by both water and wind
• Residue provides an important buffering function for plant nutrients
• Residue protects the soil surface from drying, increasing storage efficiency
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Residue is amazing, but,Can we have too much residue in one place?
Cover of September 2010 Furrow Magazine
Options for managing heavy residue
• No‐till anyway, improve planter?• Graze it?• Strip‐till?• Different rotation?• Tillage?• Removal for other uses (livestock, bioenergy?)
• Burn?
Ordered most to least preferred
What constitutes vertical tillage (VT)?
• For the project, we defined it as shallow tillage, mostly in the top 5 to 7.5 cm of the soil profile
• Results in no horizontal movement of soil (in theory)
• Is considered a form of conservation tillage– Lots of residue cover left on soil surface (mulch)
• Main purpose: cut residue
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Vertical Tillage Equipment
• Producer objectives/Marketing
• Residue to break down faster (Bt, pathogens)– Some leveling capability—improves “plantability”
– Seedbed preparation– Incorporation of lime, dry fertilizer, seed (small grains), manure
–Dry out a seedbed to plant
Make Case IH Great Plains LandollAgco
Sunflower John Deere
Model
True Tandem 330 Turbo
Turbo‐Till Series II 7400 VT plus 6630 2623VT
BLADESBlade spacing, in 7.5 10 7 7.5 7.25
Blade edge profile
Turbo pattern Fluted
Smooth edge
Crimped, 25 flutes, saw‐tooth
profile
Solid spherical
front; Solid 13 wave
rearBlade concavity Yes 1” No Yes 1” Yes 1.5” Yes, ?
Make Case IH Great Plains LandollAgco
Sunflower John Deere
Model
True Tandem 330 Turbo
Turbo‐Till Series II
7400 VT plus 6630 2623VT
Blade Mounting and Angles
Front angle of gang, degrees 18 None 10 18 21
Rear angle of gang, degrees 18 None 10 18 19
Tractor Power Recommendationshp/ft 7 to 11 10 to 13 8 to 10 8.5 to 11
Background on Research Project
• Recent emergence of implements on the market
• County Extension Agents fielding questions since 2008
• Marketed to producers: heavy residue environments and seedbed preparation
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Objectives• Soils:
– Effects on the near‐surface soil physical properties throughout the growing season, and on
– Near‐surface soil chemical properties at the conclusion of the growing season
• Emergence, crop growth and development, and yield of the crop
• Residue decomposition from the previous year’s crop• Incidence of disease on crop, and quantification of pathogens in soil and crop residue
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Pilot Project: 2009
Jefferson CountySoybeans after corn
Vertical tillage pilot study (Jefferson Co., 2009)
Physical PropertiesDepth
(in)VT mean
NT mean
p‐value, t‐test
Bulk density (g cm‐3) 0‐2 1.13 1.21 0.08
2‐4 1.29 1.30 0.92Mean Weight
Diameter (mm) 0‐2 1.44 1.62 0.04Infiltration (mm hr‐1) Surface 21.4 44.0 0.04
This field had beautiful soil properties to begin with, NT since the 1980’sNo density increase below the depth of tillage (2”)
Vertical tillage: 2009 soybean yield
• NT yield: 65.9• VT yield: 67.1• Not significant at p<0.05
• Interest in vertical tillage was gaining momentum, so asked KS Corn Commission to fund a 2‐year project
Site Description and Methods
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• 2009‐ 1 site (Pilot study)• 2010‐ 4 sites• 2011‐ 5 sites
Objectives of study:
• Evaluate effects of vertical tillage versus farmer practices at multiple times during growing season on:1. Residue % coverage and mass 2. Disease incidence and severity3. Crop vegetative properties4. Soil properties5. Soil‐ and residue‐born pathogens
Results: Vegetative and Disease
2010 Results: Jefferson Co.Continuous Corn
Stand*1000/ac
Disease % pop
Severitylesions/plt
Yieldbu/ac
No‐till 35.7 26.0 a 71.8 a 154
Case 37.6 17.0 b 46.3 b 176
Disk 38.2 16.0 b 42.8 b 154
LSD ‐‐ 1.9 6.4 ‐‐
Difference in disease didn’t translate into significant difference in yield
Charcoal rot: Soil‐borne pathogen
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NT Disk Case
Macrophomina (CFU/g soil) Winchester 2011
1st sampling
2nd sampling
b
a
ab
a
bb
2011 Results: YieldAtchison Marion Wilson Finney Osborne
(soybeans)
No‐till 195 76 Dead 148 a 47
Great Plains
189 ‐‐ Dead ‐‐ ‐‐
Spader 185 ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐
Landoll ‐‐ 76 ‐‐ 136 b 43
Salford ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ 136 b ‐‐
Case ‐‐ ‐‐ ‐‐ 134 b ‐‐
Results: Soil and Residue Properties
2010 Results: Jefferson Co.Continuous Corn
July 19th % Residue 0‐2” BDg/cm3
6‐2 Moisturecm3/cm3
No‐till 60.2 a 0.96 a 33.99
Case 40.8 b 0.78 b 29.75
Disk 35.6 b 0.80 b 30.10
LSD 7.7 0.12 ‐‐
At this site, tillage was done in fall, resulted in more treatment differences
2011 Results: Atchison CountyContinuous Corn
% Residue
0‐2” BDg/cm3
2‐4 ” BDg/cm3
No‐till 96 a 0.98 1.33
Great Plains
90 b 1.06 1.29
Spader 68 c 0.93 1.25
Summary
• Fall tillage causes more treatment differences than spring tillage
• More treatment differences in continuous corn and in heavier residue
• Farmer anecdotes:– Less wear and tear on machinery– “The stalks will rip wires off the planters, chains get wrapped with residue, or stuff gets a lot of residue hung up in it”
Limitations/Problems
• Residue that is not anchored can move (wind or water)– Cause undesirable bare spots or drifts of residue
• “Last pass rules”—Ken Ferrie• Don’t want to make a horizontal layer in the soil profile right before planting
• What does the seedbed look like?
What farmers say
• Farmer anecdotes:– Less wear and tear on machinery– “The stalks will rip wires off the planters, chains get wrapped with residue, or stuff gets a lot of residue hung up in it”
• “After you were here and put the plots in, I went and ran this on some clayey bottom ground that my cows were out in all winter. It made a perfect seedbed.”
What farmers ask
• “I have some rough areas that have developed. Will it level the surface?” – Yes: concave blades with angled gangs
• “Will this ruin my no‐till soil?”– Probably not, but it won’t improve it either
• “Would this cause compaction at 2” if I run an implement with concave blades?”– If run dry, no; if run wet, yes
What farmers say
• “Don’t tell me it won’t make me any money. I love planting into the seedbed.”
• My soil surface just isn’t good for planting into.”– Vertical tillage might just be treating the symptoms? Could we try to improve that soil surface? Residue or covers?
• “So, instead of spending money on a vertical implement, why don’t people spend money on optimizing their planters to work in heavy residue?”
The bottom line
• Just like when you make any management change, start with your objectives in mind
• Decide: Are you treating symptoms of a problem you could fix in another way?– Is there a different rotation or management practice you could change?
– Could roots/organisms/residue help?
Acknowledgements
• Special thanks to Kansas Corn Commission for funding the project
• Research Collaborators:– Anthony Whitehair, MS Student– Kent Martin, SW Area Agronomist– Chris Little, KSU Plant Pathology– Loyd Stone, KSU Agronomy
• Tillage implement manufacturers and dealers
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