Chapter 17

Soil Management for Field Crops

Crop Residue Management and Conservation Tillage

The goal of residue management is to leave a protective layer of crop residue on the field after harvesting and planting. Growers should consciously consider how equipment and equipment attachments affect crop residue. Evenly distributed and sized residue is easier to manage than piles, wind rows, or clumps of residue. If residue issues are not considered, then the ability of the planter or drill to perform its functions is greatly limited. Non-uniform surface residue will cause equipment to perform inconsistently and numerous adjustments may be required as conditions change across a field. For example, it is very difficult for the planter or drill to cut the residue if the combine has left a narrow swath of thick residue and chaff. This mat can create a lot of variability, which makes it difficult to adjust the planter/drill for proper operation, and this can limit successful emergence and early crop growth. Generally, the residue is best handled by the planter or drill when the residue remains attached to the soil and standing.

Residue Management Practices

Residue management begins at harvest. Stripper headers, straw spreaders, straw choppers, and chaff spreaders are a few devices, along with their sizes, configurations, number, and adjustments that can have considerable impact on crop residue condition and distribution in the field. Chaff spreaders are most effective for spreading wheat and soybean residue because a larger percentage of the harvested residue is handled by the combine’s cleaning shoe. Some makes of combines offer a spreader attachment in place of the chopper. While the spreader distributes the residue more uniformly than the chopper, more cover can actually be obtained with the chopper as the residue is chopped into smaller pieces before spreading. The spreader attachment, by design, spreads whole pieces of residue (soybean stems, wheat straw, whole corn stalks) and consequently does not cover as much of the surface.

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