(186) Vegetable Yields under Sustainable Production Systems

Abstract

This experiment was designed to compare best management practices for conventional and conservation tillage systems, chemical IPM vs. organic vegetable production, and rotation effect on tomatoes. Four vegetables were grown under these management practices with peppers (first year), yellow squash and fall broccoli (second year) on half of the field plots and tomatoes on the other half. For the third year, both sections of the field plots were tomatoes. The treatments were: 1) conventional-tillage with chemical-based IPM; 2) conventional-tillage with organic-based IPM; 3) conservation-tillage with chemical-based IPM; 4) conservation-tillage with organic-based IPM; and 5) conventional-tillage with no fertilizer or pest management (control). This poster describes pepper, yellow squash, fall broccoli, and tomato yields from the various treatments over the 3-year rotation. These results are for the third rotation sequence (years 79). Pepper yields were higher in treatments with chemical fertilizer and pest control. Fall broccoli yields were in the order: strip-tilled-chemical ≥ strip-till-organic ≥ conventional-tilled-chemical ≥ conventional-tilled-organic ≥ control. Yellow summer squash yields were in the order: conventional-tilled-chemical ≥ conventional-tilled-organic ≥ strip-till-chemical ≥ strip-tilled-organic ≥ control. Tomato yields were in the order: conventional-tilled chemical ≥ strip-till-chemical ≥ conventional-tilled-organic ≥ strip-tilled-organic ≥ control for each of the 3 years.