Conservation tillage gives record yields. (General News).

Non-inversion deep tillage, the form of conservation tillage that alleviates soil compaction while maintaining a crop residue cover on the soil, can increase yields of cotton more than 20 percent, according to a recently released study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Auburn, Ala.

Building on the ongoing "Old Rotation" experiment started by Auburn University professors more than 100 years ago, ARS scientists performed experiments using deep tillage and herbicide-resistant varieties of cotton, corn and soybeans. They saw dramatic results.

With the new system, cotton yields increased an average of 22 percent. One field yielded a record 1,600 pounds of cotton lint per acre--more than 3.3 bales--which beat the previous record of 1,490 pounds of cotton lint per acre.

Yields of corn and wheat, grown in rotation with cotton, also increased. A record corn yield of 236 bushels per acre was harvested from one plot, and record wheat yields were harvested for the three years of the study.

More information about the study is available from the ARS's May issue of Agricultural Research magazine or on the Internet at www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR! archive/may03/yield0503.htm.