Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is increasingly being rotated with wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Montana. Our objective was to compare economic net returns among wheat-only and pea-wheat systems during an established 4-yr crop rotation. e experimental design included three wheat-only (tilled fallow-wheat, no-till fallow-wheat, no-till continuous wheat) and three no-till peawheat (pea-wheat, pea brown manure-wheat, and pea forage-wheat) systems as main plots, and high and low available N rates as subplots. Net returns were calculated as the di erence between market revenues and operation and input costs associated with machinery, seed and seed treatment, fertilizer, and pesticides. Gross returns for wheat were adjusted to re ect grain protein at " at" and "sharp" discount/premium schedules based on historical Montana elevator schedules. Cumulative net returns were calculated for four scenarios including high and low available N rates and at and sharp protein discount/premium schedules. Pea-wheat consistently had the greatest net returns among the six systems studied. Pea fallow-wheat systems exhibited greater economic stability across scenarios but had greater 4-yr returns (US$287 ha -1 ) than fallow-wheat systems only under the low N rate and sharp protein discount schedule scenario. We concluded that pea-wheat systems can reduce net return uncertainties relative to wheat-only systems under contrasting N fertility regimes, and variable wheat protein discount schedules in southwestern Montana. is implies that pea-wheat rotations, which protected wheat yield and/or protein levels under varying N fertility management, can reduce farmers' exposure to annual economic variability.
Nitrate (NO 3 -) leaching into groundwater is a growing global concern for health, environmental, and economic reasons, yet little is known about the effects of agricultural management practices on the magnitude of leaching, especially in dryland semiarid regions. Groundwater nitrate-nitrogen (nitrate-N) concentrations above the drinking water standard of 10 mg L -1 are common in the Judith River Watershed (JRW) of semiarid central Montana. A 2-year study conducted on commercial farms in the JRW compared nitrate leaching rates across three alternative management practices (AMP: pea, controlled release urea, split application of N) and three grower standard practices (GSP: summer fallow, conventional urea, single application of urea). Crop biomass and soil were collected at ten sampling locations on each side of a management interface separating each AMP from its corresponding GSP. A nitrogen (N) mass balance approach was used to estimate the amount of nitrate leached annually. In 2013, less nitrate leached the year after the pea AMP (18 ± 2.5 kg N ha -1 ) than the year after the fallow GSP (54 ± 3.6 kg N ha -1 ), whereas the two AMP fertilizer treatments had no effect on nitrate leaching compared to GSPs. In 2014, leaching rates did not differ between each AMP and its corresponding GSP. The results suggest that replacing fallow with pea has the greatest potential to reduce nitrate leaching. Future leaching research should likely focus on practices that decrease deep percolation, such as fallow replacement with annual or perennial crops, more than on N fertilizer practices.
Annual legume green manure (LGM) cover crops may have potential in dryland wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production areas where rotation with whole-year summer fallow is practiced. No-till cropland management enhances soil water conservation, possibly enabling cover cropping, but tillage may be necessary to stimulate mineralization of LGM N in time to affect crop yield. A 2-yr LGM-wheat crop sequence study was repeated three times in Montana, with mean annual precipitation of 356 mm. Spring-planted pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) The LGM were terminated at first bloom with tillage or herbicide. Post-termination weed control also was accomplished with either tillage or herbicide in a factorial combination with the termination treatments, resulting in four management regimes. Fallow and non-N-fixing cover crop controls were included and subjected to the same management regimes. Spring wheat was grown the following year in subplots with four levels of N fertilizer. Wheat tiller density increased only when LGM was tilled at least once. Tillage also resulted in reduced soil water storage and wheat kernel weight in 1 yr. Effects on grain yield were usually neutral or positive, with pea more frequently having a positive effect than lentil, and interactions with tillage varying each year. Wheat grain protein was increased by pea LGM regardless of tillage, even when LGM did not affect wheat yield, indicating that LGM N supply is accelerated by tillage. Managing LGM in dryland environments involves a tradeoff of soil water for N supply, and tillage affects this balance.
The rotational effects and economic potential of incorporating fall‐seeded pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lentil (Lens culinaris Medik) into conventional wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)‐based cropping systems in the northern Great Plains are not well understood. Two 2‐yr crop rotation experiments were conducted in central Montana to investigate how winter pea hay, lentil green manure, and lentil grain affects subsequent winter wheat yield and protein content, as well as the economic returns of the systems under no‐till conditions. In Exp. 1, a winter pea hay–winter wheat (WP–WW) rotation was compared to fallow–winter wheat (FW–WW) and spring wheat–winter wheat (SW–WW) rotations. In Exp. 2, a winter lentil for green manure–winter wheat [WL(m)–WW] rotation was compared to a winter lentil grain–winter wheat [WL(g)–WW] rotation. Four different rates of N were applied to the winter and spring wheat. Winter wheat yield in the WP–WW rotation was 2193 kg ha−1, which was equivalent to the yield in the FW–WW rotation (2136 kg ha−1), and much greater than the SW–WW rotation (1155 kg ha−1). Averaged over all N rates, the WP–WW, FW–WW, and SW–WW systems had $196, $116, and $41 ha−1 net return, respectively. In Exp. 2, the WL(m)–WW rotation produced greater grain yield and protein content at lower N input levels, indicating a greater N benefit. Nevertheless, the WL(g)–WW system generated $213 ha−1 net profit while the WL(m)–WW system produced $92 ha−1. Therefore, the winter pea cover crop, used for livestock feed, improves the system profitability.
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