caa a22 4500 388054158 CHVBK 20180307125101.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199812 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0889189300007888 doi S0889189300007888 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0889189300007888 Response of corn, soybean and wheat crops to fertilizer and herbicides in Ohio compared with low-input production practices [Elektronische Daten] Synthetic inputs have become the norm in cash grain production in the Midwest U.S., but do they really increase profitability compared with low-input production methods? This study reports a comparison of cash grain yields, quality and profitability under two management systems, low-input practices and conventional practices. The crop sequence was corn, soybean, and wheat - medium red clover green manure. Low-input practices included crop rotation, manure, and mechanical weed control. Conventional practices added starter fertilizer, side-dress N for corn, early spring topdress N for wheat and herbicides to the low-input practices. The conventional inputs increased yields in each of the five growing seasons, 1992-96. Weather, N fertilizer and weed control appeared to explain much of the yield and grain quality variation. Soil P and K levels were maintained or increased by manure use. Plant foliar analysis indicated that soil macronutrients were mostly in the sufficient range for both management systems. Economic return in excess of the additional cost of the fertilizer and herbicides averaged $172.63 ha−1 for soybean, $165.63 ha−1 for corn and minus $19.19 ha−1 for wheat over the five-year study. Fertilizer and herbicides did pay with corn and soybean, but not with wheat under the conditions of this study. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998 low-input grain crop nationallicence conventional grain crop system nationallicence economic return to synthetic inputs nationallicence Munn D.A. Associate Professor of Soil Chemistry, Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 Coffing G. Farm Manager, Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 Sautter G. Director of Farm Operations at Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 American Journal of Alternative Agriculture Cambridge University Press 13/4(1998-12), 181-189 0889-1893 13:4<181 1998 13 AJA https://doi.org/10.1017/S0889189300007888 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0889189300007888 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Munn D.A. Associate Professor of Soil Chemistry, Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Coffing G. Farm Manager, Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sautter G. Director of Farm Operations at Ohio State University Agricultural Institute, 1328 Dover Road, Wooster, OH 44691 NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- American Journal of Alternative Agriculture Cambridge University Press 13/4(1998-12), 181-189 0889-1893 13:4<181 1998 13 AJA CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge