Initiating the Development of Regional Demonstration Fields for Implementing Soil Practices That Maximize Soil Health and Drought Resilience: Understanding Microbial-Temperature Dynamics

This project facilitated the implementation of a multiyear project to understand how climate variability and management practices influence soil microbial and nutrient dynamics within a no-till cotton production system with stubble management. Three fields at the R.N. Hooper farm in Petersburgh, TX were used for this project and continue to be monitored with funds from Cotton Inc. The three fields are center-pivot irrigated to compensate for rainfall variability as needed and depending upon water availability. The three fields were planted into the following crops for 2017 : Field 1 – corn following cotton; Field 2 – cotton following corn, and Field 3 – Wheat/mixed summer cover following wheat. The sizes of the three no-till and fields are: Field 1: 78.48 m in diameter, Field 2: 971.29 m in diameter, and Field 3: 781.1 m in diameter. The conventional field was located a few miles from the no-till fields and was also center-pivot irrigated when needed and managed as a tilled cotton production system with a corn -cotton rotations for the past five years. The no-tilled fields have been rotated among, cotton, corn, winter wheat and summer cover (when possible) for the past five years. Within each system we set soil moisture and temperatures sensors at the surface and at 15 cm depth and monitored microbial and nutrient dynamics across the year. Fields were instrumented in March 2017 and were monitored continuously except for harvesting and planting periods. Soil samples were taken initially in May 2017 and then each month from six plots established across each field. The following parameters were evaluated at each location and within each field: % soil moisture, Microbial Biomass Carbon, extractable levels of NO3-N and NH4-N and % Soil Organic Matter.