Agriculture in the Upper Midwest of the USA is characterized by a short growing season and unsustainable farming practices including low-diversity cropping systems and high fertilizer inputs. One method to reduce the magnitude of these problems is by integrating a winter annual into the summer-annual-dominant cropping system. For this reason, pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) has garnered interest in the agricultural community due to its winter annual growth habit and potential for industrial oil production, making it an ecologically and economically desirable crop. Despite decades of research focusing on pennycress as an agricultural weed, little is known about its best management practices as an intentionally cultivated crop. The majority of agronomic research has occurred within the past 10 years, and there are major gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed prior to the widespread integration of pennycress on the landscape. Here we review relevant agronomic research on pennycress as a winter annual crop in the areas of sowing requirements, harvest, seed oil content, seed oil quality, cropping strategies, ecosystem services, and germplasm development. The major points are as follows: (1) there is little consensus regarding basic agronomic practices (i.e., seeding rate, row spacing, nutrient requirements, and harvest strategy); (2) pennycress can be integrated into a corn (Zea mays)soybean (Glycine max) rotation, but further research on system management is required to maximize crop productivity and oilseed yields; (3) pennycress provides essential ecosystem services to the landscape in early spring when vegetation is scarce; (4) breeding efforts are required to remove detrimental weedy characteristics, such as silicle shatter and high sinigrin content, from the germplasm. We conclude that pennycress shows great promise as an emergent crop; however, current adoption is limited by a lack of conclusive knowledge regarding management practices and future research is required over a multitude of topics.

under a rice-wheat system was conducted to study the long-term effect of integrated nutrient management (INM) on physicochemical and microbiological properties of soil after 23 cycles of a rice-wheat cropping system. The experiment comprised 14 treatment combinations viz., N, P and K fertilizer application as individual component and use of chemical fertilizers in conjunction with different organic sources to substitute 25% to 50% N through farm yard manure (FYM), wheat cut straw (WCS), and green manure (GM) with Sesbania aculeata. The experimental treatments were replicated three times. GM, WCS, and FYM improved the physical properties of soil like water-holding capacity, penetration resistance, and bulk density. The integrated nutrient management technique resulted in a positive influx of nutrients by increasing organic carbon content, available nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium varying from 0.390 to 0.543%, 171.7 to 219.3 kg ha −1 , 20.5 to 43.3 kg ha −1 , and 124.6 to 148.9 kg ha −1 , respectively. Also, Cu, Fe, and Mn content showed significant improvement in the soil with the addition of FYM, WCS, and GM. These three organic sources of nutrition along with chemical fertilizers helped to improve infiltration rate, available soil moisture, labile C, and microbial count. However, there was a decrease in bulk density, soil strength, pH, and EC of soil with the application of FYM, WCS, 724 Nutrient Management Properties of Ustochrept 725and GM in conjunction with chemical fertilizers as compared with chemical fertilizer application alone.

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Dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important crop in the Northern Great Plains of the USA and Canada. Information on dry pea quality as affected by cultivars and environments is limited. This experiment determined the effects of dry pea cultivars and environments on protein, starch, and ash concentrations. Six dry pea cultivars (‘Arcadia’, ‘Bridger’, ‘CDC Striker’, ‘Cruiser’, ‘Montech 4152’, and ‘SW Midas’) were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with four replications in 22 environments. The results showed that cultivar × environment interaction effects were highly significant on protein, starch, and ash concentration (p < 0.0001). These interaction means, calculated on a dry matter basis, ranged from 145 to 278 g kg−1 seed for protein, 439 to 617 g kg−1 seed for starch, and 10.5 to 31.9 g kg−1 seed for ash. The differences among environmental means were substantial compared with cultivar means. When averaged over environments, ‘CDC Striker’, ‘Arcadia’, and ‘Montech 4152’ produced greater mean protein, starch, and ash concentrations, respectively, than the other cultivars. None of these cultivars simultaneously outperformed the others for protein, starch, and ash concentrations. This may indicate the need to develop cultivars with outstanding qualities across environments to receive satisfy premium end-user quality requirements.

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