Environmental & Conservation Sciences

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Research from the Department of Environmental & Conservation Sciences. The department website may be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/ecs

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Browsing Environmental & Conservation Sciences by Author "Alghamdi, Rashad Saeed"

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    Nitrogen Mineralization Dynamics of Post Harvest Crop Residue in No-Till Systems
    (North Dakota State University, 2020) Alghamdi, Rashad Saeed
    In North Dakota, adoption of conservation tillage practices has resulted in an accumulation of crop residue remaining on the soil surface. North Dakota producers receive a nitrogen credit for long-term no-till but due to previous crop residue this credit may not be realistic for providing partial nutrient needs to subsequent crops in a cool environment with a short growing season. Our objectives were to evaluate the N mineralization potential of common crop residues to determine whether crop residue accumulation in no-till systems can provide sufficient nitrogen quantities needed for subsequent crops. Three lab incubation studies were conducted to provide N mineralization insights for individual crop residues, crop residues over several simulated growing seasons, and crop residue in diversified cropping systems. Differences in soil texture, surface application versus incorporation of residue, freeze and thaw cycles and combinations of residues were all factors examined. Results indicated that crop residue decomposition and N release from the residue treatments generally immobilized N but were not significantly different from the bare soil for nearly all studies. The only exception observed was for the forage radish cover crop which showed the potential to improve soil N mineralization in select three-year rotations. Findings of these studies show that most wide C:N ratio crop residues will immobilize soil N in a no-till system under ideal conditions (i.e. moisture, temperature, and residue particle size). These findings suggestion that a fertilizer N credits may require reevaluation and take into consideration soil moisture with validated data to support the fertilizer N credit.
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    Soil Warming and Drying and the Consquence to Crop Yields among Conservation Tillage Practices in Frigid Corn-Soybean Fields
    (North Dakota State University, 2017) Alghamdi, Rashad Saeed
    Concerns over delayed soil warming and drying have hindered adoption of conservation tillage practices in frigid environments. Our objectives were to evaluate the effects of chisel plow (CP), vertical tillage (VT), strip tillage with coulters (STC), and strip tillage with shanks (STS) on soil warming and drying and their potential consequences to crop yields. A two-year study was conduct at three full-scale, producer-managed, corn-soybean fields in the Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota. Tillage treatments were assessed to measure crop residue cover, soil temperatures, soil volumetric water contents, crop yields, and other metrics. Our study indicated significant differences for many soil physical and chemical parameters, but little to none for soil warming and crop yields. Yield differences were attributed to varying fertilizer management practices, timing, and application method. These findings emphasize the importance of field management practices that compliment conservation tillage for obtaining competitive crop yields.