The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment at Platte River/High Plains Aquifer

Authors

• Ariel Freidenreich, USDA-ARS, Lincoln, NebraskaFollow
• Marty R. Schmer, USDA-ARS, Lincoln, NebraskaFollow
• Makki Khorchani, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Girma Birru, USDA-ARS, Lincoln, NebraskaFollow
• Virginia L. Jin, USDA-ARS, Lincoln, NebraskaFollow
• Tala Awada, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Rhae A. Drijber, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Andrew Suyker, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• S. Carolina Córdova, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Tyler Smith, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Tim Kettler, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Sandra Christofferson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Xiangmin Sun, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Lidong Li, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Freidenreich https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0665-3569

Schmer https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3721-6177

Khorchani https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9379-7052

Birru https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9810-2176

Jin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4146-8497

Awada https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0462-2339

Drijber https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0706-005X

Suyker https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4394-1607

Córdova https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4716-127X

Christofferson https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-4412

Sun https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5034-4392

Li https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5420-260X

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2024

Citation

Journal of Environmental Quality (2024) 53: 939–947

doi: 10.1002/jeq2.20648

Comments

United States government work. Public domain

Abstract

The Platte River/High Plains Aquifer (PR/HPA) region is characterized by cropland, pastures, and grasslands that are faced with changing climatic conditions and agricultural intensification. The PR/HPA Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) site is located in Eastern Nebraska with the goal of improving resilience, sustainability, and profitability of agroecosystems through enhancing ecosystem services and environmental quality, developing strategies for efficient agricultural production, and mitigating and adapting to climate change. To meet this goal, a common experiment and five ancillary experiments have been developed to evaluate prevailing regional practices in grain crop production systems compared to alternative practices in rain-fed and irrigated systems. These experiments reflect different geographic regions and cropping systems within PR/HPA. The common experiment is at a plot scale under sub-drip irrigation. The prevailing practice is a corn-soybean rotation with a fixed N fertilizer rate. The alternative practice is a corn–winter wheat–relay cropped soybean rotation with temporally variable N rates using fertigation. There is also an auxiliary alternative practice, a corn-soybean rotation with temporally variable N rates using fertigation with fall manure application after soybean harvest. This document describes the regional characteristics, cropland LTAR experiments, stakeholder engagement, and future plans for the PR/HPA cropland experiments.