Forrest Rose Information Specialist 573-882-6843 RoseF@missouri.edu Aug. 20, 2003 No-till crops not pretty, but they defy drought COLUMBIA, Mo. - No-till crops in Missouri might have looked bedraggled early in the growing season, but the worst drought in years is proving the efficiency of this management method, an MU specialist said. "Early this spring and even in early summer, we saw plenty of no-till corn that appeared to be struggling compared to the corn just across the fence," said Bill Casady, MU Extension associate professor of agricultural engineering. "Now, in late summer, those no-till fields have caught up with the others. "Under these unusually dry conditions, the no-till corn has outperformed the 'pretty' corn on the tilled ground, producing better-developed and more uniform ears for an overall better yield," he said. Casady said many producers are put off by the fact that "no-till isn't always pretty" compared to conventional tillage, especially in times when rainfall is adequate. During this year's cool, rainy spring in Missouri, "many areas in the no-till fields seemed to be lagging way behind the corn planted into the nicely prepared conditions of the tilled soil." He and others checked no-till fields for signs of root-limiting soil compaction, but they concluded the problem lay elsewhere. Casady suspected the culprit was "the cooler soil temperatures that often plague no-till crops." The researchers returned to the same "ragged no-till fields" later in the summer, after a prolonged rainless period, and discovered that the no-till corn plants were thriving compared to corn in conventional tillage. "We suspect that the relatively amazing performance of the no-till corn under these dry conditions is due to the better water-holding capacity of the soil that has often been documented in no-till research," Casady said. "It may be due in part to better root growth resulting from better internal drainage early in the season, and there may be causes as yet unknown." In dry years, he said, the beauty of no-till corn hides inside the husk. "No-till is not about looks, and it's not about record-breaking yields. What really matters is the economic bottom line, and if no-till yields better in drier years, then that's just another bonus." Source: Source: Bill Casady (573) 882-4370 Return to Current News Releases College of Agriculture Food and Natural Resources AgEBB