Spatial and Temporal Variability of Sorghum Grain Yield: Influence of Soil,Water, Pests,and Diseases Relationships

This study was conducted to determine relationships between biotic and abiotic factors and to generate information needed to improve the management of site-specific farming (SSF). The effects of water (80% evapotranspiration (ET) and 50% ET), hybrid (drought-tolerant and -susceptible), elevation, soil texture, soil NO₃--N, soil pH, and greenbugs (Schizaphis graminum) (Gb) on sorghum grain yield were investigated at Halfway, TX on geo-referenced locations on a 30-m grid in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Grain yields were influenced by interrelationships among many factors. Grain yields were consistently high under 80% ET treatment and in the upper slopes where the clay and silt fractions of the soil were high. Soil NO₃--N, rainfall, hybrid, and Gb effects on grain yields were seasonally unstable. Soil NO₃--N increased grain yield when water was abundant and depressed grain yields when water was limiting. Plant density effects on grain yield were confounded with hybrid responses to drought and Gb infestation. Managing seasonally unstable factors is a major challenge for farmers and better ways to monitor crop growth and diagnose causes of poor plant growth are needed. To improve the management of SSF, effects of the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors on crop yield must be integrated and evaluated as a system. Based on our study, information on seasonally stable factors like elevation and soil texture is useful in identifying management zones for water and fertilizer application. Water and fertilizers management should be complemented by in-season management of seasonally unstable factors like soil NO₃--N, rainfall, hybrid, and Gb effects on grain yield.     

Evaluation of food sprays and relay strip crops for enhancing biological control of bollworms and cotton aphids in cotton

Studies were conducted at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station research farms located at Munday (1996 test) and Chillicothe (1997 test) to evaluate relay strip crops in combination with a food spray to enhance biological control of bollworms, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), and cotton aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover, in cotton. The relay crops included fall plantings of hairy vetch, Vicia villosa Roth, and canola, Brassica napus L., and a spring planting of grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor L. Cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., was planted between the relay crops or was isolated from the relay crops. Treatments within the two cotton systems included an untreated check plot, a plot sprayed with sugar+yeast (food spray) during summer to attract and hold predator insects, a plot sprayed with biological ('soft') insecticides for bollworm and cotton aphid control (Bacillus thuringiensis and pymetrozine, respectively), and a plot sprayed with harsh insecticides for bollworm and cotton aphid control (zeta cypermethrin and dicrotophos or profonofos, respectively). A split-plot experimental design, with three replications, was used where whole plots included relay and isolated cotton systems and subplots were the four food/chemical treatments. Predator numbers were monitored with a vacuum sampler once a week in relay crops and cotton. Bollworms and cotton aphids were monitored visually once a week in cotton during July and August. Total predator numbers were higher in cotton adjacent to relay crops in 1996, but not in 1997. The food spray did not enhance attraction and retention of predators either year. Bollworm larval numbers were significantly higher in relay cotton, food spray plots in 1996. Bollworm larval numbers were similar in relay and isolated cotton, and larval numbers were significantly reduced only in the plot where zeta cypermethrin (harsh insecticide plot) was used. In 1996, cotton aphid numbers in the relay cotton system were significantly higher in the untreated check plots in relation to numbers in the food spray, soft insecticide, and harsh insecticide plots, which were statistically similar. In the isolated cotton system, aphid numbers were highest in untreated plots, intermediate in food spray and soft insecticide plots, and lowest in the harsh insecticide plots. Aphid numbers increased more rapidly in the harsh insecticide plots that had been treated previously for bollworm control. The food spray and pymetrozine treatments reduced cotton aphids more effectively in the relay cropping system than in the isolated cotton system. Bollworms and cotton aphids did not reach pest status in 1997. The combination of a relay cropping system with a food spray did not enhance predator numbers and did not aid in retention of predators in cotton during August. Sucrose in the food spray attracted high numbers of bollworms in 1996.     

Spatial and Temporal Variability of Corn Grain Yield: Site-Specific Relationships of Biotic and Abiotic Factors

Inadequate information on factors affecting crop yield variability has contributed to the slow adoption of site-specific farming (SSF). This study was conducted to determine the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on the spatial and temporal variability of irrigated corn grain yields and to derive information useful for SSF. The effects of water (80% evapotranspiration (ET) and 50% ET), hybrid (drought-tolerant and -susceptible), elevation, soil index (SI)(texture), soil NO₃–N, arthropods, and diseases on corn grain yield were investigated at Halfway, TX on geo-referenced locations. Grain yields were influenced by interrelationships among biotic and abiotic factors. Grain yields were consistently high under high water treatment, at higher elevations, and on soils with high SI (high clay and silt). Soil NO₃–N increased grain yields when water was adequate. Management zones for variable rate fertilizer and water application should, therefore, be based on information on elevation, SI, and soil NO₃–N. The effects of arthropods, diseases, and crop stress (due to drought and N) on corn grain yield were unpredictable. Spider mite (Oligonychus pratensis) and common smut (Ustilago zeae) damage occurred under hot and dry conditions in 1998. Spider mite infestations were high in areas with high soil NO₃–N. Moderate air temperatures and high relative humidity in 1999 favored southwestern corn borer (Diatraea grandiosella) and common rust (Puccinia maydis) incidences. Knowledge of conditions that favor arthropods and diseases outbreak and crop stress can improve the efficiency of scouting and in-season management of SSF. Management of SSF can be improved when effects of biotic and abiotic factors on grain yield are integrated and evaluated as a system.