Cropping system influences on several soil quality attributes in the northern Great Plains

Crop-fallow using conventional mechanical tillage has been the traditional management practice for farmers in the semi-arid northern Great Plains. This practice reduces soil quality and is not sustainable. More intensive management systems utilizing reduced- or no-tillage, fertilization to meet a yield goal, and systems producing a crop annually are being developed. In 1984, a study was initiated to compare crop yield, water-use efficiency, and nutrient-use efficiency under a spring wheat-fallow system to that under a spring wheat-winter wheat-sunflower annual cropping system. In 1995, soil samples were collected and laboratory analyses performed to quantify a number of soil quality attributes and determine the effect these management practices have had on soil quality after 11 years. Soil quality attributes were greater under annual cropping than under crop-fallow and improved as tillage intensity decreased. These results suggest that the more intensive management strategies are more sustainable.