Perennial forages influence mineral and protein concentrations in annual wheat cropping systems

Abstract

Agricultural land management may influence crop nutritional quality. However, few studies have explored potential connections between crop quality with different land management strategies. We analyzed mineral and crude protein concentrations in spring wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.) samples from a study in Mandan, ND conducted from 2006 to 2014. The study introduced a perennial forage phase into an annual spring wheat cropping system, in three to four replicates, and previously found yield benefits and enhanced soil parameters in the perennial forage treatments. We determined whether integrating a perennial forage phase into continuous wheat would also affect crop nutritional quality by measuring wheat grain mineral and protein concentrations. Crude protein concentration was greater (p