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The Gates Farm Long-Term Soil Health Research Site: What, How and Results To-Date...

The Gates Farm Long-Term Soil Health Research Site: What, How and Results To-Date. G.S. Abawi Department of Plant Pathology. Goals for Gates Farm:. Establish a long-term soil health research site to promote multi-disciplinary research

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The Gates Farm Long-Term Soil Health Research Site: What, How and Results To-Date...

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  1. The Gates Farm Long-Term Soil Health Research Site: What, How and Results To-Date... G.S. Abawi Department of Plant Pathology

  2. Goals for Gates Farm: Establish a long-term soil health research site to promote multi-disciplinary research Assess the impact of soil management practices on soil quality... Crop rotation, cover crops, and tillage Living laboratory for hands-on training

  3. The Gates Farm... • Long-term soil health research site • Located at NYSAES, Geneva, NY • 14-acre site (previously in cabbage production) • Split-split plot design with 4 reps 3 tillage treatments (plow, no-till, strip-till) 3 cover crop treatments (none, rye, vetch) 2 crop rotations (continuous vegetable vs. soil-building crops)

  4. The Gates Farm Rep 4 Rep 3 Rep 2 Strip-till Rep 1 N CROP ROTATION: Continuous vegetable Veg w/ soil-building crops Plow till COVER CROP: No cover Rye cover crop No-till Vetch cover crop Each block is 400ft x 120ft

  5. The Gates Farm NYSAES, Geneva, NY Strip-till Plow till No cover Vetch cover Rye cover No-till REP 3

  6. Gates Farm: Crop Rotations

  7. Gates Farm:Cover Crops Vetch No cover Rye grain Soil-building Vegetable

  8. Strip-Tillage Equipment

  9. Ridge Building and Planting Equipment

  10. No-till planting equipment

  11. Soil Health Soil Health Indicators Tier 1 indicators • Water stable aggregates (2.0 - 0.25 mm) • Bulk density • Available water capacity • Texture by feel • Field penetration resistance • Root heath bioassay • Active Carbon • PMN • Standard chemical analysis Chemical Physical Biological

  12. Results so far.... Minimal changes in soil physical indicators (bulk density, aggregate stability, penetration resistance, etc.) • Suggests a minimum transition period • May reflect reduced sampling in spring 2005 Significant changes in soil biological indicators • Soil microbes are able to respond to environmental changes more rapidly

  13. Bean seed planted in field soil Soil Bioassay w/ Bean for Assessing Soil Health Beans grown in greenhouse 5 to 6 weeks Soil collection Root rot severity rating (1 = healthy to 9 = primary roots rotted) Bean roots are washed

  14. Root health assessment NYSAES, Gates Farm 2004 and 2005. Plow-till Strip-till No-till Tillage and cover crop system 2004 – back 2005 – front Root rot severity rating

  15. Gates Farm: Plow-Till, Vetch Cover Crop 2004

  16. Gates Farm: Strip-Till, Vetch Cover Crop 2004

  17. Gates Farm: Yield Data

  18. Gates Farm:Yield Data

  19. Vigor ratings of sweet corn under different tillage systems and cover crops (1=least, 5= greatest vigor). NYSAES, Gates Farm 2005. 19 July 05. Cover crop Growth/vigor/color Tillage system

  20. The Gates Farm: What’s next...

  21. Acknowledgements Soil Health Team (partial list) Research Labs David Wolfe George Abawi Harold van Es Janice Thies Renuka Rao Cornell Cooperative Extension Educators New York Grower Cooperators The Farm Research Unit Staff - NYSAES Funding Sources: NE-SARE NYS/CU IPM FFF Hatch Program CCE/Smith-Lever NNY – Ag & Markets Program

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