By Kay Ledbetter
Pasture cropping as a land management practice can pay off for producers on lands where environmental conditions are favorable, mainly dormant-season moisture, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife-led team of researchers.
For the past five years, a team led by Srini Ale, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research agrohydrologist and professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Vernon, has implemented the practice through the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, NIFA, grant-funded project “Enhancing Soil Ecosystem Health and Resilience Through Pasture Cropping.”
The relatively new practice includes planting a small-grain crop into existing perennial warm-season grassland. Usually, only about 20-25% of the grassland is planted each year. The planted wheat or oat crop is then used for winter protein supplementation. In some years, it can be cut for grain.
Secondary benefits include competition with weeds to reduce their numbers. The team also hopes to see some improvement in soil health indicators in the pasture-cropped plots after analysis this summer.
Other researchers completing the study with Ale were:
- Tim Steffens, Ph.D., formerly a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service range specialist and now professor at West Texas A&M University at Canyon;
- Paul DeLaune, Ph.D., former AgriLife Research environmental soil scientist at Vernon and now department head at the University of Arkansas Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science;
- Nuria Gomez-Casanovas, Ph.D., AgriLife Research regenerative system ecologist at Vernon and assistant professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management;
- Tong Wang, Ph.D., advanced production specialist at South Dakota State University.
Source : tamu.edu