Source: CLEMSON UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR CROP PRODUCTION TO ENHANCE SOIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, WHILE REDUCING ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND PEST OCCURRENCE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1004576
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2014
Project End Date
Nov 4, 2016
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
CLEMSON,SC 29634
Performing Department
Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Recently, growers in the southern U.S. are facing new production problems (herbicide resistance weeds, lack of effective nematicides, thrips post planting management, high fuel costs, etc.) that are either reducing farm profits and sustainability or threatening soil conservation practices. Interseeding technologies outlined in this proposal, which combines cover crops, crop rotations, and minimum tillage operations, has the potential to overcome all of the production problems cited above while enhancing soil chemical, physical, and/or biological properties.On average, growers in the southeastern USA apply about 100 kg/ha N for cotton, 160 kg/ha for corn, and 100 kg/ha for wheat for a total of over 1.7 million metric tons for these three crops. Thissensor-based, site-specific N application,combined with soil amendments based on soil management zones, will enhance N use efficiency and farm profitability while substantially reducing N use and its adverse impact on ground and surface water quality by applying fertilizer at optimum rate. For example, a 20% reduction in nitrogen usage could save our cotton, corn and wheat growers over $135 million annually.From 2002 to 2007 irrigated acreage in the southeastern states increased by 70%. Competition for limited water resources has become a critical issue in some parts of the southeastern states. The water conservation technologies outlined in this project have potential to reduce water and energy consumption by 50% compared to conventional crop production. As a result of this project, an efficient and affordable sensor-based irrigation scheduling technique for cotton will be developed to account for field variability in the southeastern Coastal Plain soils.
Animal Health Component
33%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
33%
Applied
33%
Developmental
34%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1020110202020%
1111710202020%
1021710202020%
2050199202020%
4020210202020%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 205 - Plant Management Systems; 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
0110 - Soil; 0210 - Water resources; 0199 - Soil and land, general; 1710 - Upland cotton;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1: (Interseeding) to increase the ability of farmers to benefit from the dual income provided by double cropping systems, and improve interseeding equipment to match modern production systems.Objective 2: (Sensor-based nutrients management) Develop equipment and algorithms to improve nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency for Coastal plain regions through the use of remote sensing and site-specific fertilizer application on soils with and without organic amendments.Objective 3: (Variable rate water management) Determine the most accurate and affordable sensor technology, the optimum sensor location in a production field, and the number of moisture sensors required for an effective sensor-based irrigation scheduling for crop production in coastal plain soils. This will include development and promotion of advanced sensors and practical strategies for automation and control, evaluation, and management of irrigation systems.
Project Methods
To make this technology more adoptable by growers, the interseeding equipment will be upgraded to match growers' current planting and harvesting equipment. Replicated tests will be conducted 1)to investigating the effects of interseeding technology combined with crop rotations on soil chemical, physical, and biological properties; fuel consumption; pest management; and crop responses; 2)to develop equipment and algorithms to improve nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency for Coastal plain regions through the use of remote sensing and site-specific fertilizer application on soils with and without organic amendments; 3) to determine the most accurate and affordable sensor technology, the optimum sensor location in a production field, and the number of moisture sensors required for an effective sensor-based irrigation scheduling for crop production in coastal plain soils; and 4) to investigate the feasibility of utilizing space-based technology developed by NASA for site-specific irrigation scheduling and to determine the accuracy of the GPS-based sensor technology in measuring soil moisture contents from different aircraft altitudes compared to tower method. Equipment for interseeding and site-specific N application will be developed before field tests can be conducted. These equipment and algorithms will be evaluated on growers' fields and under controlled plot work conditions. The GPS-based reflectometer will be evaluated using a tower method, prior to installing it on a UAV for determining its accuracy for measuring soil moisture contents from different aircraft altitudes.

Progress 10/01/14 to 11/04/16

Outputs
Target Audience:During the life of this project, 27 training field days, workshops, and growers' meetings were offered to farmers, county extension agents, crop consultants, and agricultural-related businesses at geographically diverse locations in South Carolina. These included farms of all sizes especially small-scale, limited resource farmers. In addition, results were presented to other scientists at national, regional, and local meetings. Efforts: On-farm demonstrations were combined with an on-line integrated regional education and promotion program which provided information directly to growers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two MS level graduate students, two PhD students, and two Post-Doctoral fellows, were trained under this project. In addition, this project has trained several crop consultants, technology providers, and county Extension agents. They will be the primary providers of technologies (developed under this project) to growers beyond the geographic and time limitations of this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this project have been presented to other scientists at national (10) and regional (4) meetings. Aggressive demonstration projects (27 field days and workshops) were conducted to familiarize stakeholders with the benefits of these technologies. Stakeholders included interested producers, county extension agents, landowners, business community (especially Ag-related businesses), environmental groups, state-level USDA-NRCS personnel, and state regulatory agencies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Significant progress has been made toward achieving all of the project goals and objectives. Results showed that remote sensing using Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite data has a potential to estimate soil moisture contents at field levels. In addition, by installing only one soil moisture sensor in a production field, algorithms could be developed to calibrate the satellite data to predict the soil moisture content of that particular field for irrigation management. Field studies were conducted for two years with three different soil series to determine the effects of tillage systems and cool season cover crops on the soil chemical and physical properties, yield responses, and pest pressure. Results showed that cool season cover crops significantly reduced soil compaction, increased cotton lint yield and soil moisture content, reduced nematode population densities, and increased soil available P, K, Mn, and organic matter content compared to the conventional no cover crop. The results of corn test showed that the sensor-base nutrient management reduced nitrogen rates by 21% and 34% in light and heavy soil textures, respectively, compared to traditional farmer fixed rate practice without any reduction in corn yields. On average, the Clemson algorithm reduced nitrogen usage by 30 to 90 lbs. /acre, compared to growers' application rates, in cotton production. The interseeded soybeans yielded significantly higher than conventional double-cropped soybeans, helped to suppress weeds, and significantly reduced herbicide applications. There were no differences in yield between mono-cropped and interseeded cotton, however, interseeded cotton production system significantly reduced Columbia Lance nematode population densities, increased soil organic matter and plant available nutrients, and reduced thrips populations compared to conventional production system.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Marshall, Michael, Phillip Williams, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, Joe Mario Maja, Jose Payero, John Mueller, and Ahmad Khalilian. 2016. Influence of Tillage and Deep Rooted Winter Cover Crops on Soil Properties, Pests, and Yield Responses in Cotton; Journal of Soil Sciences, Vol 6 No. 10 pp. 149-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojss.2016.610015
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Qiao, X., Khalilian, A., Payero, J.O., Maja, J.M., Privette, C.V. and Han, Y.J. (2016) Evaluating Reflected GPS Signal as a Potential Tool for Cotton Irrigation Scheduling. Advances in Remote Sensing, Vol. 5 No. 3 pp. 157-167, http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ars.2016.53013
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Qiao, X., H. J. Farahani, A. Khalilian, E. M. Barnes. 2016. Cotton Water Productivity and Growth Parameters in the Humid Southeast  Experimentation and Modeling. Transactions of the ASABE , 59(3): 949-962
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Han, Y. J., A. Khalilian, J. O. Payero, N. Rogers. 2016. Development of a Portable Electro-Mechanical Educational Model for Variable Rate Center Pivot Irrigation Technology. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, Vol.8 No.4 pp. 449-458, http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2016.84038
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Privette III, C.V., Khalilian, A., Bridges, W., Katzberg, S., Torres, O., Han, Y.J., Maja, J.M. and Qiao, X. (2016) Relationship of Soil Moisture and Reflected GPS Signal Strength. Advances in Remote Sensing, 5, 18-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ars.2016.51002Holguin, C. M., J. D. Mueller, A. Khalilian and P. Agudelo. 2015. Population dynamics and spatial distribution of Columbia lance nematode in cotton. Applied Soil Ecology 95 (2015) 107-114, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.06.004.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Han, Young J., Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, Ahmad Khalilian, Nicholas G Rogers. 2016. Electro-mechanical Control for Variable Nitrogen Application. Abstract. Proceedings of the 2016 WCCA-AFITA (World Congress on Computers in Agriculture, Asia Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture), Sunchon, Korea, June 21-24, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Marshall, Michael, Ahmad Khalilian, Jose Payero, 2016, Utilizing cover crops for management of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth in cotton, Abstract ID: 158, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Khalilian, Ahmad, Michael Marshall, Jose Payero, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, Phillip Williams, 2016. Effects of Deep-Rooted Cover Crop on Soil Compaction and Crop Productivity, Abstract ID: 163, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Khalilian, Ahmad, Michael Marshall, Jose Payero, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, Phillip Williams, 2016. An Interseeding System for Soybean to Reduce Pest Occurrence and Energy Consumption, Abstract ID: 165, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Khalilian, Ahmad, Michael Marshall, Jose Payero, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, Phillip Williams, 2016. Sensor-based Nitrogen Management for Cotton in Coastal Plain Soils, Abstract ID: 166, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Payero, Jose. Michael Marshall, Ahmad Khalilian, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, 2016. Effect of skip-row planting on cotton yield, biomass and soil moisture in South Carolina, Abstract ID: 167, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Payero, Jose. Michael Marshall, Ahmad Khalilian, Ali Mirzakhani Nafchi, 2016. Effect of three cover crop treatments on biomass production and soil water conservation. Abstract ID: 168, Soil and Water Conservation Society.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Williams, Phillip, Ahmad Khalilian, Michael Marshall, John Mueller and Jose Payero, 2016, Deep Rooted Cover Crops for Managing Soil Compaction. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, National Cotton Council of America, Memphis, http://www.cotton.org/beltwide/proceedings


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, 16 training field days and workshops were offered to farmers, county extension agents, crop consultants, and agricultural-related businesses at geographically diverse locations in South Carolina. These included farms of all sizes especially small-scale, limited resource farmers. In addition, results were presented to other scientists at national, regional, and local meetings. Efforts: On-farm demonstrations were combined with an on-line integrated regional education and promotion program which provided information directly to growers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One MS level graduate student, two PhD students, and a Post Doc, were trained under this project. In addition, this project has trained several crop consultants, technology providers, and county Extension agents. They will be the primary providers of technologies (developed under this project) to growers beyond the geographic and time limitations of this project How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this project have been presented to other scientists at national (3) and regional (1) meetings. Aggressive demonstration projects (16 field days and workshops) were conducted to familiarize stakeholders with the benefits of these technologies. Stakeholders included interested producers, county extension agents, landowners, business community (especially Ag-related businesses), environmental groups, state-level USDA-NRCS personnel, and state regulatory agencies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Replicated tests will be conducted at Clemson and growers' farms to develop equipment and algorithms to improve nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency for coastal plain regions through the use of remote sensing and site-specific fertilizer application on soils with and without organic amendments; to determine the effects of interseeding double-cropping systems on crop responses in cotton and soybean productions; and to improve interseeding equipment to match modern production systems.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Significant progress has been made toward achieving all of the project goals and objectives. Results showed that in a field with variable soil type, it would be beneficial to install moisture sensors in management zones with higher EC readings (heavier soil textures) to obtain maximum yield and WUE. The Sentek EasyAg-50 sensor had the highest accuracy among the sensor types tested, however, Decagon sensor offered more promise for irrigation scheduling than the rest of the sensors, since it presented good accuracy and is affordable. The correlation of GPS reflectivity values and soil moisture contents for bare soil were high. However, the effects of vegetation and surface roughness on GPS reflected signals needs to be thoroughly studied, before utilizing this technology for irrigation scheduling of cotton in Southeast Coastal Plain soils. Field studies were conducted on three different soil types to determine the effects of cover crops on soil chemical and physical properties, crop responses, and pest pressure. Results showed that cover-crop significantly reduced soil compaction, increased cotton lint yield, increased soil moisture content, reduced nematode population densities, and increased available P, K, Mn, and organic matter content compared to no cover crop. The interseeded soybeans yielded significantly higher than conventional double-cropped soybeans (43% more) and conventional mono-crop full season soybeans (10%). Narrow row interseeded soybeans helped to suppress weeds. Reductions in yield due to weed infestations, where herbicides were not applied, were significantly less in interseeded plots (26%) compared to 40% for mono-crop soybeans and 76% for conventional double-cropped soybean. There were no differences in yield between mono-cropped and interseeded cotton, however, interseeded cotton production system significantly reduced Columbia Lance nematode population densities (80%), increased soil organic matter by 56% and plant available nutrients by 33%, and reduced thrips populations by 74% compared to conventional production system.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Holguin, C. M., J. D. Mueller, A. Khalilian and P. Agudelo. 2015. Population dynamics and spatial distribution of Columbia lance nematode in cotton. Applied Soil Ecology 95 (2015) 107-114, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.06.004.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Holguin, C. M., P. Gerard, J. D. Mueller, A. Khalilian and P. Agudelo. 2015. Spatial distribution of reniform nematode in cotton as influenced by soil texture and crop rotations. Journal of Phytopathology, 105 (5) 674-683, http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-09-14-0240-R.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Overstreet, C., E. C. McGawley, A. Khalilian, T. L. Kirkpatrick, W. S. Monfort, W. Henderson, and J. D. Mueller. 2014. Site Specific Nematode ManagementDevelopment and Success in Cotton Production in the United States; Journal of Nematology 46(4):309320. 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Payero, Jose, Rebecca Davis, Ahmad Khalilian, 2014. Demonstrating subsurface drip irrigation as a climate adaptation strategy for sustainable crop production in South, S.C. In Eidson, G. W. and C. B. Sawyer (ed.), Proceedings of the 2014 Water Resources Conference, http://tigerprints.clemson.edu/do/search/?q=Payero&start=0&context=5470131
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Khalilian, Ahmad, Mike Marshall, Jeremy Greene, Young Han, and Alva Williamson. 2015. An interseeding system for cotton production to reduce pest occurrence and energy consumption. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, San Antonio, Texas, January 5-17, 2015, pp. 164-167. http://www.cotton.org/beltwide/proceedings
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Greene, J. K., M. W. Marshall, A. Khalilian, F. Reay-Jones, M. Toews, P. Roberts, D. Reisig, and A. Meijer. 2015. Mitigation of thrips on cotton in the southeastern USA using winter cover crops. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, San Antonio, Texas, January 5-17, 2015, pp. 665. http://www.cotton.org/beltwide/proceedings
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Payero, J.O., R. Davis, A. Khalilian, G. Miller, M. Marshall. 2015. Evaluating skip-row planting as a drought adaption strategy for cotton. Proceedings of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, San Antonio, Texas, January 5-17, 2015, pp. 173-178. http://www.cotton.org/beltwide/proceedings