Extending Cover Crop Benefits with Zone Till Management in Northern Organic Summer Squash Production
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Experimental Design
2.2. Cover Crop Management
2.3. Crop Production
2.4. Data Collection
2.5. Soil Analysis
2.6. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Cover Crops
3.2. Soil Quality
3.3. Squash Yield
4. Discussion
4.1. Additional Growing Time Increases Cover Crop Biomass N Content
4.2. Soil Region and Sampling Time Are the Main Determinants of Soil Quality Changes
4.3. Yellow Crookneck Squash Production Is Unaffected by Delayed Between-Row Cover Crop Termination
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Field Operations | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|
Cover crop planting | 17 April | 22 September a |
4 May b | ||
Early cover crop sampling | 15 June | 7 June |
Pre-kill soil sampling | 15 June | 7 June |
Early cover crop termination | 16 June | 8 June |
Post-kill soil sampling | 25 June | 20 June |
Late cover crop sampling | 15 July | 18 July |
Late cover crop termination | 15 July | 18 July |
Squash seeding | 19 July | 21 June |
Mid-season soil sampling | 25 July | 25 July |
First crop harvest | 3 September | 1 August |
Last crop harvest | 2 October | 26 August |
Post-harvest soil sampling | 23 October | 16 September |
Year and Cover Crop System | In Row | Between Row | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Early a | Early | Late | ||||
Biomass N (kg N ha−1) | C/N | Biomass N (kg N ha−1) | C/N | Biomass N (kg N ha−1) | C/N | |
2015b | ||||||
OP | 268 (47) | 12.5 (2.1) | 268 (47.1) | 12.5 (2.1) B | 236 (29) | 19.2 (3.5) A |
RV | 120 (72) | 8.1 (0.2) | 120 (71.6) | 8.1 (0.2) B | 258 (34) | 13.3 (0.6) A |
2016c | ||||||
OP | 35 (8) b | 7.7 (0.3) c | 50 (16) | 8.0 (0.4) c | - | - |
RV | 174 (48) a | 29.6 (6.5) a | 169 (7) | 48.8 (1.2) a | - | - |
RC | 110 (21) a | 26.2 (3.0) b | 160 (20) | 24.8 (2.2) Ab | 125 (13) | 13.3 (1.3) B |
Cover Crop System b | 2015 a | 2016 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1000 Fruit ha−1 | kg ha−1 | 1000 Fruit ha−1 | kg ha−1 | |
OP | 73.7 (16.5) | 17,665 (4640) | 216.0 (79.0) | 50,701 (16,265) |
RV | 106.1 (28.9) | 25,316 (5896) | 85.5 (14.3) | 19,969 (3342) |
RC | - | - | 212.1 (70.9) | 50,427 (17,111) |
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Ginakes, P.; Grossman, J.M. Extending Cover Crop Benefits with Zone Till Management in Northern Organic Summer Squash Production. Agronomy 2021, 11, 983. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11050983
Ginakes P, Grossman JM. Extending Cover Crop Benefits with Zone Till Management in Northern Organic Summer Squash Production. Agronomy. 2021; 11(5):983. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11050983
Chicago/Turabian StyleGinakes, Peyton, and Julie M. Grossman. 2021. "Extending Cover Crop Benefits with Zone Till Management in Northern Organic Summer Squash Production" Agronomy 11, no. 5: 983. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11050983