Soil compaction effects on second‐harvest yields of perennial ryegrass for silage

Abstract

Variation in dry-matter yield at second harvests was studied in a long-term comparison of wheel traffic systems and soil compaction in grassland for silage in Scotland. Yields were obtained from compacted soil subjected to conventional traffic (C), from less compacted soil in a reduced ground-pressure traffic system (R) and from non-compacted soil in a zerotraffic system (Z). Relationships between the ratios of second-harvest yields, C 2 /Z 2 and C 2 /R 2 , and a number of soil, rainfall and crop parameters were tested by correlation analysis. The yield ratios increased significantly with the number of days after mowing before 2 mm of rain fell in 1 d (r ϭ 0·923*** and 0·715*, for C 2 /Z 2 and C 2 /R 2 respectively), and C 2 /Z 2 , but not C 2 /R 2 , decreased with increasing amount of rainfall in the 14 d after first mowing (r ϭ Ϫ0·787*). It was concluded that yield from compacted soil was greater than that from non-compacted soil because the former depended less on rainfall in the weeks after first mowing. The degree of soil compaction in the reduced ground-pressure traffic system, although maintaining first-harvest yield benefit, reduced the risk of significantly diminished yield at second harvest in dry summers.

Do agricultural grasses bred for improved root systems provide resilience to machinery‐derived soil compaction?

“…However, in the current study, the impact of compaction appeared transitory since total yield over the growing season was comparable for both compacted and non-compacted soils across all grasses. In the current experiment, a cold spring was encountered that initially prevented significant foliar growth by all the grasses, and this might accord with the same conclusions described by Douglas (1997).…”

“…Following another six weeks, at the second harvest cut, the reverse was found with the grasses growing on the compacted plots having higher DMYs than those on the non-compacted soils. This result was also encountered in a previous study (Douglas, 1997) using mechanically compacted and non-compacted plots under UK conditions. In the latter, the difference in yield was explained as an effect of weather parameters.…”

Improving grass silage production with controlled traffic farming (CTF): agronomics, system design and economics

“…However, further work would have to be done to compare yield differences in further years with different weather conditions to confirm this. It has been shown that the amount and date of rainfall, especially after the first cut, can affect second cut yields (Douglas 1997).…”

“…Traffic with wet soil conditions during cutting also decreased the yield of the next cut. Douglas andCrawford (1989, 1991) investigated the relationships between the amount of traffic and soil dry bulk density and crop dry matter yield ( Fig. 1), with 'Amount of Traffic' (kPa) defined as the product of the number of wheel passes and maximum (front axle wheels) tyre/soil contact stress.…”

Controlled Traffic Farming – From Worldwide Research To Adoption In Europe And Its Future Prospects

“…CTF systems in forage are mostly confined to Denmark, where large volumes of slurry are applied in the spring and in between grass cuts. CTF in these circumstances gives large and demonstrable benefits in both yield and quality, as identified as far back as the 1990s (Douglas, 1997). Uptake in root and vegetable crops has so far been limited despite greater economic benefits being demonstrated (Vermeulen et al, 2007).…”