Dataset
Data from: Field-scale experiments reveal persistent yield gaps in low-input and organic cropping systems
Dryad
02/02/2018
Abstract
Knowledge of production-system performance is largely based on
observations at the experimental plot scale. Although yield gaps between
plot-scale and field-scale research are widely acknowledged, their extent
and persistence have not been experimentally examined in a systematic
manner. At a site in southwest Michigan, we conducted a 6-y experiment to
test the accuracy with which plot-scale crop-yield results can inform
field-scale conclusions. We compared conventional versus alternative, that
is, reduced-input and biologically based–organic, management practices for
a corn–soybean–wheat rotation in a randomized complete block-design
experiment, using 27 commercial-size agricultural fields. Nearby
plot-scale experiments (0.02-ha to 1.0-ha plots) provided a comparison of
plot versus field performance. We found that plot-scale yields well
matched field-scale yields for conventional management but not for
alternative systems. For all three crops, at the plot scale, reduced-input
and conventional managements produced similar yields; at the field scale,
reduced-input yields were lower than conventional. For soybeans at the
plot scale, biological and conventional managements produced similar
yields; at the field scale, biological yielded less than conventional. For
corn, biological management produced lower yields than conventional in
both plot- and field-scale experiments. Wheat yields appeared to be less
affected by the experimental scale than corn and soybean. Conventional
management was more resilient to field-scale challenges than alternative
practices, which were more dependent on timely management interventions;
in particular, mechanical weed control. Results underscore the need for
much wider adoption of field-scale experimentation when assessing new
technologies and production-system performance, especially as related to
closing yield gaps in organic farming and in low-resourced systems typical
of much of the developing world.
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Details
- Title
- Data from: Field-scale experiments reveal persistent yield gaps in low-input and organic cropping systems
- Creators
- Alexandra N. Kravchenko - Michigan State UniversitySieglinde S. Snapp - Michigan State UniversityG. Philip Robertson - Michigan State University
- Publisher
- Dryad
- Grant note
- NSF 1027253 / National Science Foundation (https://ror.org/021nxhr62)
- Identifiers
- 99901397980401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dataset