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Chemical versus Mechanical Fallow of Abandoned Croplands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

A. C. Everson ,
D. N. Hyder ,
H. R. Gardner  and
R. E. Bement
A. C. Everson
Affiliation:
Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station
D. N. Hyder
Affiliation:
Crops Research Division
H. R. Gardner
Affiliation:
Soil and Water Conservation Research Division
R. E. Bement
Affiliation:
Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station Crops Research Division, Fort Collins
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Abstract

Chemical fallow with 2,2-dichloropropionic acid (dalapon) reduced the yield of non-seeded perennials more than mechanical fallow with sweep blades in the year of treatment. However, plants derived from seed left at the soil surface resulted in greater yields of nonseeded perennials on chemical than on mechanical-fallow plots the year following treatment. Each fallow method increased annual herbage yields the year after treatment as compared with directly-seeded plots. Litter was greatly reduced in the year of and in the year after mechanical fallow. However, the amount of litter on the chemical fallow plots was very high in the year of treatment and declined in the succeeding year. Success of seeding crested wheatgrass [Agropyron desertorum (Fisch, ex Link) Schult.] was slightly better after mechanical than after chemical fallow. Yield of crested wheatgrass in the year after planting was about the same for the mechanical fallow and the higher rate (10 lb/A) of dalapon. There was more available soil moisture to a depth of 30 inches in fallowed than in non-treated plots; but the small amount of moisture saved by fallow probably is immaterial to seeding success.

Type
Research Article
Information
Weed Science , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , October 1969 , pp. 548 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © 1969 Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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