Controlled traffic farming benefits to soil physical properties and soil health on Granby loamy fine sands

Thumbnail Image
Date
2020-01-01
Authors
Gibson, Tiffani
Major Professor
Marshall McDaniel
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Organizational Unit
Agronomy

The Department of Agronomy seeks to teach the study of the farm-field, its crops, and its science and management. It originally consisted of three sub-departments to do this: Soils, Farm-Crops, and Agricultural Engineering (which became its own department in 1907). Today, the department teaches crop sciences and breeding, soil sciences, meteorology, agroecology, and biotechnology.

History
The Department of Agronomy was formed in 1902. From 1917 to 1935 it was known as the Department of Farm Crops and Soils.

Dates of Existence
1902–present

Historical Names

  • Department of Farm Crops and Soils (1917–1935)

Related Units

Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Department
Agronomy
Abstract

Typical Midwestern US agriculture requires the need for intensive machine traffic, causing soil compaction and over the long-term contributing to soil degradation and potential yield loss. Controlled traffic farming (CTF), which is restricting wheel traffic to a small repetitively tracked portion of the field while leaving the majority of the field untrafficked is a promising method to reduce farm machinery compaction. The idea is that CTF restricts compaction to a small area of the field – thus there may be some negative effects of concentrated traffic on the CTF zones, but comes at the benefit of the rest of the field. The overall objective of this study was to determine the effects of seven years of CTF on soil bulk density and aggregate stability across three 15-62 ha commercial fields in northwestern Indiana loamy fine sands. Due to CTF’s redistribution of farm machine compaction we measured the effects within three traffic zones within each field: planter tracks, sprayer tracks, as well as non-tracked zones of the field. Bulk densities, on average were 1.30 g/cm3 to 1.35 g/cm3 in the CTF and conventional fields respectively. However, bulk density within non-tracked zones were 1.19 g/cm3 and 1.32 g/cm3 for CTF and conventional traffic (UTF) respectively. Soil aggregates under CTF lost less soil after slaking on average (-32%), compared to conventional traffic (-49%). Overall, CTF had positive effect on soil physical properties compared to conventionally trafficked treatments.

Comments
Description
Keywords
Citation
DOI
Source
Subject Categories
Copyright
Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2020