Resource use efficiency of diverse cropping systems in western Canada
Date
2022-03-08
Authors
St. Luce, Mervin
Liu, Kui
Asgedom Tedla, Haben
Bainard, Luke
Biswas, Dilip
Entz, Martin
Hernandez Ramirez, Guillermo
Hubbard, Michelle
Iheshiulo, E.
Kapiniak, Arlen
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Abstract
A sustainable increase in grain production is vital to meet the growing global demand for food. One part of meeting this goal is efficient use of resources, including nutrients and water, especially in a changing climate. A field experiment involving six 4-year diverse crop rotations was initiated in 2018 at seven sites in western Canada (Carman, MB; Swift Current, Melfort and Scott, SK; Lethbridge, Lacombe and Beaverlodge, AB) to investigate their effects on crop production, resource use efficiency, resilience, soil health, whole-farm economics, and environmental footprint. The six cropping systems include: (1) conventional (Control), (2) pulse or oilseed-intensified (POS), (3) multiple commodities diversified (DS), (4) market-driven (MS), (5) high risk and high reward (HRHRS), and (6) green-manure incorporated soil-health focused (GMS). In this presentation, we will focus on nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency ( NFUE; estimated as annualized grain yield/N fertilizer applied), N use efficiency (NUE; annualized grain yield/available N), and precipitation use efficiency (PUE; annualized grain yield/accumulated precipitation from seeding to harvest). During the first three years, MS had the highest N fertilizer rates while the GMS, POS and DS had the lowest. Preliminary results showed that NFUE and NUE were highest for DS (234 and 62 kg grain ha-1 kg-1, respectively), and lowest for POS (70 and 31 kg grain ha-1 kg-1, respectively) and HRRS (70 and 28 kg grain ha-1 kg-1, respectively) on average across sites. For PUE across sites, it was lower for HRRS (7 kg grain ha-1 mm-1) and GMS (10 kg grain ha-1 mm-1) compared to other systems. These preliminary findings suggest that the choice of cropping system has an impact on N requirements and resource use efficiency.
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Crop Rotation, Production, Resource-use Efficiency
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Soils and Crops Workshop