No‐Till Proso Millet Production

Abstract

AbstractProso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is well‐adapted for the Central Great Plains and is commonly grown with a mechanical tillage production system in a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)‐milletfallow rotation. The use of tillage results in extensive wind and water erosion, however. Research was conducted on a mesic Aridic Paleustoll soil near Akron, CO, to determine proso millet response to a no‐till production system. Eliminating tillage increased proso millet grain yields from 2290 to 2730 kg/ha in 1985 and from 1200 to 1610 kg/ha in 1986, compared to tilled proso millet production. Water use efficiency (WUE) also increased in the no‐till system. Nitrogen fertilizer at 22 or 44 kg N/ha increased grain yield, N concentration of grain, and WUE of no‐till proso millet regardless of whether growing‐season precipitation was near normal or 33% below the long‐term site average of 212 mm. Atrazine [6‐chloro‐N‐ethyl‐N'‐(1‐methylethyl)‐l,3,5‐triazine‐2,4‐diamine] applied either in the previous fall or 60 d before planting provided effective in‐crop weed control for the no‐till production system. Atrazine applied in the spring required two paraquat (1,1'‐dimethyl‐4,4'‐bipyridinium ion) applications at 0.28 kg ai/ha to control weeds the previous fall. Nitrogen fertilizer did not affect the bioactivity or soil persistence of atrazine.