Where do Pulse Crops Fit into Soil Health? The Role of Pulse Crops in Improving Soil Health

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Dale Bennett
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1 Where do Pulse Crops Fit into Soil Health? The Role of Pulse Crops in Improving Soil Health

2 Physical Water Characteristics Compaction Soil Structure Chemical Salts Sodium ph Nutrients Biological Insects Microbes Plants Biological Activity Organic Matter

3 N Credits Previous Crop Soybean Edible Bean Pea Lentil Chickpea Harvested Sweat Clover Credit 40 lbs N/acre

4 Cover Crops Reduce erosion Add N Build Organic matter Residue management Enhance nutrient cycling Improve soil structure Livestock Feed

6 Mandan ARS

7 Root Architectures

8 C:N Ratio SOM ~ 10:1 C:N 30:1 = Immobilization C:N 20-30:1 = No Effect CN 20:1 = Mineralization

9 Field Pea Relay Cover Crop Encourage volunteer pea growth Cover Crop Biomass (lbs/ac) Percent N of Cover Crop (%) Total N in Plant Tissue (lbs/ac) Blaine Schatz & Yvonne Lawley, 2009

10 Field Pea Relay Cover Crop Fostering Methods Seeding Rate (seeds/ft 2 ) Pea Cover Crop Biomass (lbs/ac) Total Nitrogen in Cover Crop Biomass (lbs/ac) Wheat Test Crop Yield (bu/ac) None 6 334c 12.9b 53.9b Disk with Harrows Disk with Harrows b 71.7a 56.4b a 88.5a 59.6a Blaine Schatz & Yvonne Lawley, 2009

11 Late Season Cover Crop Timing Pea Harvest (Late July Early August) Lentil (Mid August) Chick Peas (September) How dry are you? Might want to do sight-specific.

12 Late Season Cover Crop N Benefits If soil has N, no nodulation will occur. Legumes in a mix may not have time to Fix N

13 Late Season Cover Crop N Benefits Green dry plant matter ~ 4% N Yellow-Green dry plant matter ~ 2.5% N ~33% mineralized in conventional till ~20% mineralized in no-till

14 Late Season Cover Crop N Benefits 100% ground cover Annual legume 6 inches high ~2,000 lbs dry matter Each additional inch ~150 lbs dry matter

15 How Much Dry Matter? Collect plant material in 1ft x 1ft Dry then Weigh 1gm/ft 2 ~ 96lbs of dry matter/ac

17 Salts Make Plants Think They are in a Drought Non-saline soil solution Cell plasma Saline soil solution Cell plasma Water Water A Cell wall B Cell wall

18 Salinity, Sodicity, Alkalinity??? Normal Soil Saline Soil Sodic Soil Saline-Sodic Soil EC < 4 ds/m EC > 4 ds/m EC < 4 ds/m EC > 4 ds/m SAR < 13 SAR < 13 SAR > 13 SAR > 13 ph < 8.5 ph < 8.5 ph > 8.5 ph > 8.5

19 Soil Salinization Needs 5 Things Water Water Soluble Salts NaCl, Na 2 SO 4, MgSO 4, CaSO 4, Recharge Area Water enters the soils Discharge Area Ground water becomes surface water Evaporation

20 Managing Saline Soils in North Dakota, David Franzen

21 Impermeable Layer Saline Seep Recharge Evaporation Discharge Throughflow

22 Recharge Discharge

23 Ditch Effect Evaporation Road S S Discharge

26 Discharge Discharge Wetland Salinization Evaporation Recharge Throughflow

27 Photo Courtesy Google Earth

28 Photo Courtesy Google Earth

29 Photo Courtesy Google Earth

30 Courtesy of Dr. Dave Hopkins and Mike Ulmer

31 SALINE AND SODIC SOIL MANAGEMENT Analyze the soil for Electrical Conductivity. Analyze the soil for Sodium Adsorption Ratio or Exchangeable Sodium Percentage.

32 Dry Down The Soil! Don t Dry Up! Conventional Till No-Till

33 Dry Down The Soil! Don t Dry Up! Deep Rooted High Water Use Crops Drain Tile

34 Impermeable Layer Saline Seep Management Recharge No Discharge. Salts have moved. Water Movement

35 Ditch Effect Management No Discharge. Salts have moved. Road S S

36 Wetland Salinization Management No Discharge. Salts have moved. No Discharge. Salts have moved. Recharge Water Movement

37 AGVISE LABS, 2011

38 Discharge Recharge Recharge Photo Courtesy Google Earth

41 START WITH A SALT RESISTANT CROP SATURATED PASTE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (ds/m) CROP PERCENT OF MAXIMUM YIELD POTENTIAL Alfalfa Barley Canola Corn Dry Beans Flax Soybeans Sugarbeet Sunflower Durum Wheat

42 Summary Early harvest can allow late season cover crops N fixing from cover crops may or may not happen Get something growing Salinity management is water management Think landscapes!

QUESTIONS? Chris Augustin (701)857-7682 Chris.

43 QUESTIONS? Chris Augustin (701)

Cover Crops, Crop Nutrition. Dave Franzen NDSU Extension Soil Specialist

Cover Crops, Crop Nutrition. Dave Franzen NDSU Extension Soil Specialist Cover Crops, Crop Nutrition Dave Franzen NDSU Extension Soil Specialist Nutritional benefits of cover crops- -Can trap nitrate reduce fall/winter/spring losses -legumes might produce N if they have time