Gary E. Varvel

Soil Microbial Community Response to Corn Stover Harvesting Under Rain-Fed, No-Till Conditions at Multiple US Locations

Harvesting of corn stover (plant residues) for cellulosic ethanol production must be balanced with the requirement for returning plant residues to agricultural fields to maintain soil structure, fertility, crop protection, and other ecosystem services. High rates of corn stover removal can be associated with decreased soil organic matter (SOM) quantity and quality and increased highly erodible soil aggregate fractions. Limited data are available on the impact of stover harvesting on soil microbial communities which are critical because of their fundamental relationships with C and N cycles, soil fertility, crop protection, and stresses that might be imposed by climate change. Using fatty acid and DNA analyses, we evaluated relative changes in soil fungal and bacterial densities and fungal-to-bacterial (F:B) ratios in response to corn stover removal under no-till, rain-fed management. These studies were performed at four different US locations with contrasting soil-climatic conditions. At one location, residue removal significantly decreased F:B ratios. At this location, cover cropping significantly increased F:B ratios at the highest level of residue removal and thus may be an important practice to minimize changes in soil microbial communities where corn stover is harvested. We also found that in these no-till systems, the 0- to 5-cm depth interval is most likely to experience changes, and detectable effects of stover removal on soil microbial community structure will depend on the duration of stover removal, sampling time, soil type, and annual weather patterns. No-till practices may have limited the rate of change in soil properties associated with stover removal compared to more extensive changes reported at a limited number of tilled sites. Documenting changes in soil microbial communities with stover removal under differing soil-climatic and management conditions will guide threshold levels of stover removal and identify practices (e.g., no-till, cover cropping) that may mitigate undesirable changes in soil properties.

Corn stalk nitrate concentration profile: Implications for the end-of-season stalk nitrate test

The end-of-season corn (Zea mays L.) stalk nitrate-N test was developed as a post-mortem to determine if excessive or insufficient N was available to the corn crop during the latter part of the season. The stalk section specified for the test was very specific, the 20 cm-long section between 15 and 35 cm above the soil. Under production conditions, it may not always be possible to collect this precise stalk section. The objective of this study was to determine how nitrate concentration varied within the stalk from the soil level to the ear node, and how this variation could affect interpretations of the stalk nitrate test. Field grown (140 kg N ha−1) corn stalks were collected and separated into phytomers (the node plus leaf, internode, and bud developing from it). Phytomers were further divided into six segments; the node and five equal length segments of the internode. All samples were analysed for NO3-N with a nitrate-ion specific electrode after extraction with 0.04 M (NH4)2SO4. Nitrate concentrations of individual samples varied from less than 100 to greater than 8000 mg NO3-N kg−1 dry weight, and increased down the stalk from ear to soil. Generally, the nitrate concentrations of segments within a phytomer were similar. These results indicated new critical values, approximately 35% greater than the original ones, may be needed to determine if limiting or excessive amounts of N were available to the crop, i.e. 950 vs. 700 and 2700 vs. 2000 mg NO3-N kg−1 for insufficient and excessive levels, respectively. However, the general interpretation of test would remain unchanged because stalk nitrate concentrations vary so widely under field conditions from less than 100 to greater than 5000 mg NO3-N kg−1.

Soil Carbon Response to Projected Climate Change in the US Western Corn Belt

The western US Corn Belt is projected to experience major changes in growing conditions due to climate change over the next 50 to 100 yr. Projected changes include increases in growing season length, number of high temperature stress days and warm nights, and precipitation, with more heavy rainfall events. The impact these changes will have on soil organic carbon (SOC) needs to be estimated and adaptive changes in management developed to sustain soil health and system services. The process-based model CQESTR was used to model changes in SOC stocks (0-30 cm) of continuous corn ( L.) and a corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation under disk, chisel, ridge, and no-tillage using projected growing season conditions for the next 50 yr. Input for the model was based on management and harvest records from a long-term tillage study (1986-2015) in eastern Nebraska, and model output was validated using measured changes in SOC from 1999 to 2011 in the study. The validated model was used to estimate changes in SOC over 17 yr under climatic conditions projected for 2065 under two scenarios: (i) crop yields increasing at the observed rate from 1971 to 2016 or (ii) crop yields reduced due to negative effects of increasing temperature. CQESTR estimates of SOC agreed well with measured SOC ( = 0.70, < 0.0001). Validated model simulated changes in SOC under projected climate change differed among the three soil depths (0-7.5, 7.5-15, and 15-30 cm). Summed over the 0- to 30-cm depth, there were significant three-way interactions of year × rotation × yield ( = 0.014) and year × tillage × yield ( < 0.001). As yield increased, SOC increased under no-tillage continuous corn but was unchanged under no-tillage corn-soybean and ridge tillage regardless of cropping system. Under chisel and disk tillage, SOC declined regardless of cropping system. With declining yields SOC decreased regardless of tillage or cropping system. These results highlight the interaction between genetics and management in maintaining yield trends and soil C.