Elizabeth Garner presented two papers at the recent APRES meeting. The abstracts are found below.
Peanut Response to Tillage and Cover Crops in North Carolina Using Large and Small Plot Sizes
E.H. GARNER*, D.L. JORDAN, L.A. LUX, D. REISIG, R. AUSTIN, and B. PIKE, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695; I. LANIER and B. STEVENS, Peanut Blet Research Station, North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Lewiston-Woodville, NC 27849.
Research was conducted in 2024 and 2025 at Lewiston-Woodville, NC to determine peanut yield when planted into desiccated native vegetation, wheat, or cereal rye using both no till and strip till. Pesticides were used extensively to minimize the contributions of cover crops to pest management so that the effect of tillage and cover cropson peanut yield could be defined more clearly. Yields were determined from large-plots (4 rows by 400 feet) and from a smaller section (2 rows by 30 feet) for each treatment. When using results from the large-plot data, peanut yield following strip-tillage into native vegetation or wheat cover crop was equal to or greater than yield in other cover crop treatments and tillage systems. Response in cereale rye was variable and lower in some instances. Peanut yield response to tillage and cover crop treatments for peanuts also varied based on plot size. Although significance of main effects differed when comparing yield based on plot size and year, the interaction of tillage treatment × cover crop was significant for both plot sizes during both years. However, differences in rankings of treatments and statistical significance were noted when comparing plot sizes. These results indicate that recommendations on tillage and cover crop treatment combinations can be influenced by experimental procedures including plot size.
Peanut pods are dug and vines inverted prior to threshing, and pod loss during this process can vary based on soil characteristics. We did not identify specific soil characteristics in areas where small plot yield was determined that could explain partially differences among treatments. The lower coefficient of variation for larger plots and the knowledge that larger plots capture more land area that could influence response to tillage and cover crop combinations suggest that recommendations should be based on the larger plot data and not small plots. Logistics, resources, and land availability often dictate plot size. Numerous recommendations on peanut response to tillage systems have been made based on small-plot techniques. Results from those trials, while informative for practitioners, need to be considered within the context of the experimental procedure.
Peanut Yield and Imaging Response to Tillage System in North Carolina
E.H. GARNER*, D.L. JORDAN, L.A. LUX, D. REISIG, R. AUSTIN, and B. PIKE, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695.
The majority of peanuts in North Carolina are planted in conventional tillage systems on raised beds. Experiments were conducted in eight fields over two years on a private farm to compare pest reaction and peanut yield when planted in strip tillage into desiccated wheat, conventional tillage in flat ground, and conventional tillage with beds. When pooled over eight trials conducted over two years, peanut yield and net return were greater when planted in conventional tillage on beds than when peanut was strip tilled into previous crop stubble with a wheat cover crop or when planted into conventionally tilled fields without beds. No differences in yield or net returns were noted when comparing strip till with planting flat in conventional tillage. Imaging data are being processed and will be discussed in the presentation.