Sustainable Production Systems Under No-till in the Cerrado of Brazil - Maranhão
Continuous cultivation of lands under the same monocropping systems tends to promote soil degradation and increases the incidence of crop diseases, pests, and weeds, which in turn, reduces the crop yield potential. This is a long-term research project looking into various aspects of sustainable agricultural systems. The project gives emphasis to crop rotation and other alternatives to generating long-term profitability. This is believed to be instrumental to many farms located throughout the Brazilian Cerrado region. Part of this project is dedicated to the study of soil fertility management under these sustainable agriculture systems. One experiment containing eight different cropping systems was initiated in 2012 and general results for the first year will be available late in 2013. Brazil-60
IPNI-2012-BRA-60
2013 Annual Interpretive Summary
Continuous cultivation of lands under the same monocropping systems tends to promote soil degradation and increases the incidence of crop diseases, pests and weeds, which in turn, reduces the crop yield potential. This long-term research project is looking into various aspects of sustainable agricultural systems. The project gives emphasis to crop rotation and other alternatives to generating long-term profitability. This is believed to be instrumental to many farms located throughout the Brazilian Cerrado region. Part of this project is dedicated to the study of soil fertility management under these sustainable agriculture systems. One experiment containing eight different cropping systems was initiated in 2012 and general results for the first year are available. Main treatments used in the study include: (a) monoculture with continuous soybean with conventional tillage, (b) monoculture with continuous soybean with no tillage, (c) cover crop rotation (soybean followed by pear millet, or effect 1), (d) common farmer practice (soybean followed by a second maize crop), (e) cover crop (soybean followed by different cover crops, effect 2), (f) cover crop (soybean followed by different cover crops, effect 3), (g) cover crop (soybean followed by different cover crops, effect 4), and (h) maximum rotation (soybean or maize followed by different cover crops). Sub-treatments were added to investigate maize yield response to N fertilizer application, so every maize plot receives different N rates: 90 and 180 kg N/ha for the first maize crop, and 45 and 90 kg N/ha for the second maize crop, plus an unfertilized control.
Soybean yield did not differ among treatments and averaged 2.86 t/ha. The second maize crop yield was positively influenced by N fertilizer application and showed a significant response to fertilization. The application of 90 kg N/ha increased grain yield by 0.71 t/ha (25%), compared to the unfertilized control treatment (2.88 t/ha). The project will be conducted for six years and will end in 2018.