Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States
Efficient water management is critical to sustainable crop production in arid and semi-arid southwestern United States. A study was designed to evaluate the variations in soil water content (SWC) and nitrogen (N) dynamics within the 0–100 cm soil profile and forage maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (S...
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Elsevier
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Agricultural Water Management |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424005821 |
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| author | Atinderpal Singh Prakriti Bista Sanjit K. Deb Rajan Ghimire |
| author_facet | Atinderpal Singh Prakriti Bista Sanjit K. Deb Rajan Ghimire |
| author_sort | Atinderpal Singh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Efficient water management is critical to sustainable crop production in arid and semi-arid southwestern United States. A study was designed to evaluate the variations in soil water content (SWC) and nitrogen (N) dynamics within the 0–100 cm soil profile and forage maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) yields in winter cover crop integrated crop rotations in a semi-arid environment using a Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZQWM2). The cover cropping treatments were no cover crop (NCC), a mixture of grasses, brassicas, and legumes (GBL), a mixture of grasses and brassicas (GB), and a mixture of grasses and legumes (GL) under maize and sorghum silage production. The root mean square error (RMSE), index of agreement (d), and Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient (NSE) were used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the model. The observations and simulations showed that the soil water content was greater and soil temperature was lower under cover crops than under NCC. Simulated N mineralization in maize and sorghum with cover cropping was 41.1–44.2 % and 41.9–42.3 % greater than NCC. Also, the model simulated that cover crops improved the plant N uptake by 15.4–17.3 % in maize and 13.6–14.7 % in sorghum compared to NCC. Simulated aboveground biomass yields of maize and sorghum were 8.11–24.2 % and 5.68–21.3 % greater with cover crops than with NCC. Integrating cover crops in maize and sorghum silage production systems can conserve soil water and improve N uptake, increasing silage yield under semi-arid irrigated conditions in the southwestern United States. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-937c0b11f4d44d199431281640af1945 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1873-2283 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agricultural Water Management |
| spelling | doaj-art-937c0b11f4d44d199431281640af19452025-01-07T04:16:53ZengElsevierAgricultural Water Management1873-22832025-02-01307109246Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United StatesAtinderpal Singh0Prakriti Bista1Sanjit K. Deb2Rajan Ghimire3Agricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University, Clovis, NM 88101, USAAgricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University, Clovis, NM 88101, USA; Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88001, USADepartment of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USAAgricultural Science Center, New Mexico State University, Clovis, NM 88101, USA; Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88001, USA; Correspondence to: 2346 State Road 288, Clovis, NM 88101, USA.Efficient water management is critical to sustainable crop production in arid and semi-arid southwestern United States. A study was designed to evaluate the variations in soil water content (SWC) and nitrogen (N) dynamics within the 0–100 cm soil profile and forage maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) yields in winter cover crop integrated crop rotations in a semi-arid environment using a Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZQWM2). The cover cropping treatments were no cover crop (NCC), a mixture of grasses, brassicas, and legumes (GBL), a mixture of grasses and brassicas (GB), and a mixture of grasses and legumes (GL) under maize and sorghum silage production. The root mean square error (RMSE), index of agreement (d), and Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient (NSE) were used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the model. The observations and simulations showed that the soil water content was greater and soil temperature was lower under cover crops than under NCC. Simulated N mineralization in maize and sorghum with cover cropping was 41.1–44.2 % and 41.9–42.3 % greater than NCC. Also, the model simulated that cover crops improved the plant N uptake by 15.4–17.3 % in maize and 13.6–14.7 % in sorghum compared to NCC. Simulated aboveground biomass yields of maize and sorghum were 8.11–24.2 % and 5.68–21.3 % greater with cover crops than with NCC. Integrating cover crops in maize and sorghum silage production systems can conserve soil water and improve N uptake, increasing silage yield under semi-arid irrigated conditions in the southwestern United States.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424005821Zea mays L.Sorghum bicolorSoil water contentNitrogen mineralizationForage yield |
| spellingShingle | Atinderpal Singh Prakriti Bista Sanjit K. Deb Rajan Ghimire Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States Agricultural Water Management Zea mays L. Sorghum bicolor Soil water content Nitrogen mineralization Forage yield |
| title | Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States |
| title_full | Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States |
| title_fullStr | Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States |
| title_short | Simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi-arid Southwestern United States |
| title_sort | simulating cover crops impacts on soil water and nitrogen dynamics and silage yield in the semi arid southwestern united states |
| topic | Zea mays L. Sorghum bicolor Soil water content Nitrogen mineralization Forage yield |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377424005821 |
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