Corn residue, tillage, and row spacing effects on soybean

Most soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] follow corn (Zea mays L.) in the US corn belt, and soybean seed is often planted without tillage into standing corn residue or, if tilled, into a considerable amount of corn residue left on or near the surface. The increase in corn residue with increasing corn yields raises the question about whether corn residue interacts with tillage to affect soybean yields. During 2012 and 2013, corn residue was left standing, chopped, or removed, followed by tillage or no-till before soybean planting. In addition, row spacings of 38 or 76 cm and effect of foliar fungicide were evaluated within residue-tillage treatments. Across two years at Urbana, yield response to combinations of row spacing and tillage responded similarly in standing and chopped residue treatments but were different when residue was removed. There were no significant differences due to treatment across the three southern Illinois sites, but at Dixon Springs in 2013, 38-cm rows yielded more than 76-cm rows, and across residue treatments, tillage with fungicide yielded more than tillage without fungicide, and at Brownstown in 2012, soybeans in standing corn residue yielded 199 kg ha-1 more than those without corn residue. Nodule numbers at Urbana in 2013 were higher in the standing corn residue treatment compared to the chopped and removed residue treatments at R6. While these results show rather modest and inconsistent responses of soybean yield to management of corn residue from the previous crop, they do indicate that tilled soybeans had higher yields in Urbana, the northernmost environment with more productive soils, but in the southern environments with less productive soils, soybean yield did not respond to tillage treatment.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Crop Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Warren, Holly

Contributors dc:contributor

• Nafziger, Emerson D.

• soybean
• corn residue
• row spacing
• tillage
• nodules

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2014 Holly Warren

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50672

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/50672