Alfalfa water productivity and yield gaps in the U.S. central Great Plains

Fink, Kaylin P.; Grassini, Patricio; Rocateli, Alexandre C.; Bastos, Leonardo M.; Kastens, Jude H.; Ryan, Luke P.; Lin, Xiaomao; Patrignani, Andres; Lollato, Romulo P.

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2022.108728

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 121 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Alfalfa is an herbaceous crop with rapid growth characteristics, and its yield is considered to be linearly related to evapotranspiration [10], particularly within a growth period. A wide range of 10-34 kg ha −1 mm −1 alfalfa water productivity has been reported in earlier studies [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. The review of nine studies conducted in the west and Midwest of the U.S. showed that averagely 188 mm is required to produce 1 Mg of alfalfa [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Evapotranspiration and Yield Impact Tools for More Water-Use Efficient Alfalfa Production in Desert Environments

Montazar,

Putnam

2023

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drought and climate change have decreased water availability for agriculture, especially in the desert of southwestern USA. Efficiency enhancements in irrigation management aimed at conserving water are key to adjust to limits in water supply, improve profitability and sustainability of alfalfa production in arid and semiarid areas. This study intended to conduct a field-scale analysis to develop yield and ET estimation tools for the effective use of irrigation water in a desert alfalfa production system. Extensive data collection and trials were carried out over three years in nine fully irrigated commercial alfalfa fields in the low deserts of California. The seasonal crop water consumption measured using the residual of energy balance method varied from 1381 mm to 1596 mm across the experimental sites and crop seasons. Variable seasonal dry mater (DM) yields ranged from 23.01 Mg ha−1 to 29.90 Mg ha−1. The results indicated that the first five cuttings each year were the most productive cuttings with a mean DM value ranged between 3.29 (cut 1) and 4.21 (cut 4) Mg ha−1 but declined in later cuttings. An average annual water productivity (WP) value of 17.0 kg ha−1 mm−1 was determined across the sites varying from 15.5 to 18.9 kg ha−1 mm−1. The findings suggested that one may lose up to 1.44 Mg ha−1 alfalfa yields with moderate summer deficit irrigation strategies, using 40% less water applied than full irrigation practices over the summer period of July–September. A more severe summer water deficit, with no irrigation event over the summer period of July–September may result in a potential water savings of 0.234–0.246 (ha·m) ha−1 and 19–21% seasonal yield losses in the desert environment. This study describes the seasonal yield pattern, the crop water use-production function, and the crop coefficient values for various harvest cycles over the crop season. These tools may assist farmers to quantify water savings and estimate yield losses for more accurate and effective irrigation management strategies to meet water conservation objectives and for the resiliency of alfalfa production in the desert region.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Evapotranspiration and Yield Impact Tools for More Water-Use Efficient Alfalfa Production in Desert Environments

Montazar,

Putnam

2023

Agriculture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…According to Sainju et al (2017), IWG and other perennial grasses had 12-16 times greater root mass, carbon, and nitrogen (N) than annual grain wheat. Alfalfa is a perennial leguminous forage crop widely grown in the United States, and the average yield per ha in the US central Great Plains is 7.6 Mg (Fink et al, 2022). As a leguminous crop, it has the potential to fix N with the help of a nitrogen-fixing symbiont bacteria, and about 1 billion kg of N per year is fixed by alfalfa, accounting for one-fifth of the total amount of N fertilizer applied to all crops (Peterson & Russelle, 1991).…”

Section: Core Ideasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐term effects of Kernza and alfalfa on microbial communities

Udawatta,

Gurmessa,

Gonzalez

et al. 2024

Agrosystems Geosci & Env

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Continuous land disturbance could negatively impact microbial community, but perennial crops can potentially reverse this negativity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Kernza (Thinopyrum intermedium) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) on soil microbial structure and stress condition using the phospholipid fatty acid profiling. The study was conducted at the Ross Jones Research Farm, University of Missouri and consisted of four treatments: Kernza fertilized, Kernza unfertilized, Kernza and alfalfa intercrop, and alfalfa monocrop with four replications. Treatments were established in September 2021 on 18.3 m × 18.3 m plots. Soils from 0‐ to 5‐cm and 5‐ to 15‐cm depths were sampled in September 2021 (before treatments were placed) and 2022 and analyzed for microbial communities. All microbial communities increased after 1 year with the perennial crops. Since differences were not significant among treatments in 2022, this may lead to positive impacts of perennial crops on microbial communities, irrespective of the crop species and management. Moreover, community structure modifications were also observed with the perennial crops, irrespective of the species and management, as evidenced with changes in bacterial community indices in 2022. While fungi/bacteria ratio increased, Gram‐positive/Gram‐negative bacteria ratio decreased in 2022, suggesting a reduction in microbial stress, which can be attributed to ecological functions of the perennial crops. The study showed improvements in soil microbial biomass and modifications in microbial community structure after 1 year of Kernza and alfalfa. As the system matures, relative benefits of management (fertilization and intercropping) and plant species may be realized.

show abstract

“…Nonetheless, through stability analysis, we showed that yield gaps were larger in higher yielding seasons, suggesting a greater opportunity-cost of the farmer practice when conditions are favorable. A greater yield potential in higher yielding seasons is usually experienced not only in replicated studies (Di Mauro et al, 2022;Jaenisch et al, 2019Jaenisch et al, , 2022 but also in surveys of commercial fields of wheat and other crops (Di Mauro et al, 2018;Fink et al, 2022;Jaenisch et al, 2021;Lawes et al, 2021).…”

Section: Crop Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Intensive management simultaneously reduces yield gaps and improves milling and baking properties of bread wheat

et al. 2023

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genotype (G), environment (E), management (M), and their interactions determine grain yield, biochemical composition, and quality of wheat. However, we are not aware of studies evaluating whether intensive management can simultaneously reduce yield gaps and improve wheat milling and baking attributes, which were our main objectives. A factorial experiment of five genotypes × four management intensities (farmer practice, high-input, high-input minus nitrogen, and high-input minus fungicide) was conducted in six Kansas (United States) environments resulting from the combination of four locations and three seasons. Grain yield and 13 parameters characterizing the grain (test weight [TWT], thousand kernel weight [TKW], grain protein [GP]), flour (e.g., ash, protein), dough (e.g., water absorption [WA],dough stability [DS]), and baking qualities (loaf volume [LV]) were measured. For most variables, the primary contributor of the variance was E while M and G were secondary and tertiary contributors, except for LV in which G was a larger moderator. High input practices increased yield (4206 kg ha −1 ) compared to farmer practice (3347 kg ha −1 ) suggesting a yield gap of 859 kg ha −1 . Management intensities receiving foliar fungicides improved grain properties related to milling characteristics (i.e., TKW and TWT), while management intensities receiving more nitrogen improved baking characteristics (e.g., WA and DS). Across sources of variation, yield response to improved management associated positively with the responses of TKW, TWT, and in some cases, GP, and WA. Our results showed the possibility of simultaneously improving grain yield and selected milling and baking attributes of bread wheat genotypes through intensive management.Abbreviations: DDT, dough development time (min); DS, dough stability (min); FA, flour ash (%); FNV, falling number (s); FST, farinograph stability (min); FY, flour yield (%); G, genotype; GP, grain protein (%); GY, grain yield (kg ha −1 ); HWW, hard winter wheat; LV, loaf volume (mL); MTI, mixing tolerance index (BU); TKW, thousand kernel weight (g); TWT, test weight (kg hl −1 ); WA, water absorption.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

show abstract

Alfalfa water productivity and yield gaps in the U.S. central Great Plains

Cited by 13 publications

References 121 publications

Evapotranspiration and Yield Impact Tools for More Water-Use Efficient Alfalfa Production in Desert Environments

Evapotranspiration and Yield Impact Tools for More Water-Use Efficient Alfalfa Production in Desert Environments

Short‐term effects of Kernza and alfalfa on microbial communities

Intensive management simultaneously reduces yield gaps and improves milling and baking properties of bread wheat

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About