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    Sentinel-2-based predictions of soil depth to inform water and nutrient retention strategies in dryland wheat
    (Elsevier BV, 2023-11) Fordyce, Simon I.; Carr, Patrick M.; Jones, Clain; Eberly, Jed O.; Sigler, W. Adam; Ewing, Stephanie; Powell, Scott L.
    The thickness or depth of fine-textured soil (zf) dominates water storage capacity and exerts a control on nutrient leaching in semi-arid agroecosystems. At small pixel sizes (< 1 m; ‘fine resolution’), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of cereal crops during senescence (Zadoks Growth Stages [ZGS] 90–93) offers a promising alternative to destructive sampling of zf using soil pits. However, it is unclear whether correlations between zf and NDVI exist (a) at larger pixel sizes (1–10 m; ‘intermediate resolution’) and (b) across field boundaries. The relationship of zf to NDVI of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was tested using images from a combination of multispectral sensors and fields in central Montana. NDVI was derived for one field using sensors of fine and intermediate spatial resolution and for three fields using intermediate resolution sensors only. Among images acquired during crop senescence, zf was correlated with NDVI (p < 0.05) independent of sensor (p = 0.22) and field (p = 0.94). The zf relationship to NDVI was highly dependent on acquisition day (p < 0.05), but only when pre-senescence (ZGS ≤ 89) images were included in the analysis. Results indicate that cereal crop NDVI of intermediate resolution can be used to characterize zf across field boundaries if image acquisition occurs during crop senescence. Based on these findings, an empirical index was derived from multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery to estimate zf on fields in and beyond the study area.
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    Cover crops to improve soil health in the North American Great Plains
    (Wiley, 2021-09) Obour, Augustine K.; Simon, Logan M.; Holman, Johnathon D.; Carr, Patrick M.; Schipanski, Meagan; Fonte, Steven; Ghimire, Rajan; Nleya, Thandiwe; Blanco‐Canqui, Humberto
    Rotating cereal crops (e.g., wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] with a 10- to 21-mo summer fallow period [fallow]) is a common farming practice in dryland (rainfed) agricultural regions. Fallow is associated with several challenges including low precipitation storage efficiency, depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC), loss of soil fertility, little crop residue retention and soil erosion, and few control options for herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds. The inability to effectively control HR weeds poses a major challenge to maintaining soil and water conservation practices such as no-tillage, as some producers are considering tillage to control weeds. Cover crop (CC) integration into wheat-based production systems to replace portions of the fallow period provides an opportunity to increase SOC, improve soil fertility, suppress weeds, and increase profitability of dryland crop production, especially when CCs are used as forage. This forum paper used the North American Great Plains as a model region to review information on (a) challenges of dryland agriculture; (b) integrating CCs in dryland agriculture; (c) benefits, challenges, and limitations of CCs in dryland crop production; (d) management options for CC integration in dryland grain systems; and (e) recommendations for future research efforts.
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    Evaluation of environment and cultivar impact on lentil protein, starch, mineral nutrients, and yield
    (Wiley, 2021-12) Chen, Chengci; Etemadi, Fatemeh; Franck, William; Franck, Sooyoung; Abdelhamid, Magdi T.; Ahmadi, Jafar; Mohammed, Yesuf Assen; Lamb, Peggy F.; Miller, John H.; Carr, Patrick M.; McPhee, Kevin; Zhou, Yi; Torabian, Shahram; Qin, Ruijun
    Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is an important source of protein, starch, and mineral nutrients in many parts of the world. However, the impact of environment and cultivar on the enrichment of these nutrients is not well understood. Four lentil cultivars (‘Avondale’, ‘CDC Richlea’, ‘CDC Maxim’, and ‘CDC Imvincible’) varying in color, seed size, and maturity were evaluated at five Montana locations with diverse climatic and soil conditions over 3 yr. Significant cultivar, location, and year effects were found for yield, protein, starch, and minerals. Grain protein concentration was the highest at Moccasin (262 g kg−1) and lowest at Richland (246 g kg−1), whereas starch concentration was the highest at Richland (455 g kg−1) and lowest at Moccasin(441gkg−1). Among cultivars, Avondale was the top yielding cultivar (1965 kg ha−1)and adaptable to most of the environments; CDC Imvincible was the top protein producer (265 g kg−1); and CDC Richlea is the leading starch producer (456 g kg−1). Grain protein concentration was negatively correlated with starch. Lentil grains varied in nutrient concentrations across locations, with the north central Montana region producing 10- to 20-times greater selenium concentration than other locations. CDC Maxim had the highest iron (62.1 mg kg−1) and zinc (31.5 mg kg−1) concentrations.Seed protein concentration was positively correlated with phosphorus, sulfur, cop-per, and boron. Seed starch is positively correlated with magnesium and manganese.Results suggest that plant breeding and production site selection could enrich lentil nutrient concentrations to help combat malnutrition in the world.
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