Agronomic Yields of Annual Crops — Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE)
Data in the KBS LTER core database may not be published without written permission of the lead investigator or project director Full terms of use
Agronomic yields of MCSE corn-soybean-winter wheat rotations (T1-T4), managed differently, and harvested with commercial-sized farming equipment. Prior to 2017, yields were recorded for the east half of the plot only; since 2017, yields are from the whole plot. Note that yields are reported at standard moisture and need to be converted if dry mass units are needed.
In 2019, prairie strips (15’ x 300’) were established down the center of all T3 and T4 plots. We report yields in two ways to capture the economic yield: one based on the crop area harvested (crop only) and one based on the whole plot area which includes prairie strips in T3 and T4.
This datatable is part of the Agronomic Yields of Row Crops dataset.
This dataset contains the agronomic yields of row crop treatments of the Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE) at the LTER Main Site and includes corn––soybean–winter wheat rotations (T1-T4), managed differently since 1989, and alfalfa (T6, 1994-2017) which was converted to switchgrass (T6) in 2019. Agronomic yields are measured during normal crop harvest using machine harvesters appropriate to each crop as detailed in the KBS Aglog.
Note
| Experiment: | Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE) |
| Data available from: | July 1989 to October 2024 |
| Dataset: | KBS020 |
| Datatable ID: | KBS020-001.91 |
| Core Areas | Primary Production,Disturbance |
| Repository link: | http://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/00c3343378bf55e0727cccecc8a8ff41 |
| Related Tables: | |
| Personnel: |
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| Last Updated | 2025-01-14 |
| Variate | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Date | harvest date | |
| Treatment | treatment | |
| Replicate | replicate | |
| Crop | crop species collected | |
| crop only yield bu A | This yield is based on the crop area. Crop kernel/seed harvested at crop harvest in bu/A (at standardized moisture for corn 15.5%, wheat/soybean 13%; conversions for corn: 56 pounds/bushel wheat/soybeans: 60 pounds/bushel) | bu/ac |
| crop only yield kg ha | This yield is based on the crop area. Crop kernel/seed harvested at crop harvest in kg/ha (at standardized moisture for corn 15.5%, wheat/soybean 13%) | kg/ha |
| whole plot yield bu A | This yield is based on including the area of the 15-foot wide prairie strips in the denominator of the yield calculation (at standardized moisture for corn 15.5%, wheat/soybean 13%). | bu/ac |
| whole plot yield kg ha | This yield is based on including the area of of the 15-foot prairie strips in the denominator of the yield calculation (at standardized moisture for corn 15.5%, wheat/soybean 13%). | kg/ha |
| Year | crop year |
| Protocols |
|---|
| MCSE: Harvestable Biomass |
| Agronomic Yields |
Data Excerpt
| date | treatment | replicate | crop | crop_only_yield_bu_a | crop_only_yield_kg_ha | whole_crop_yield_bu_a | whole_crop_yield_kg_ha | year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-10 | T4 | R4 | Glycine max L. | 30.9 | 2074.4 | 29.355 | 1970.68 | 2024 |
| 2024-10-10 | T4 | R2 | Glycine max L. | 21.7 | 1459.3 | 20.615 | 1386.335 | 2024 |
| 2024-10-10 | T4 | R1 | Glycine max L. | 26.4 | 1775.8 | 25.08 | 1687.01 | 2024 |
| 2024-10-10 | T4 | R3 | Glycine max L. | 30.1 | 2025.6 | 28.595 | 1924.32 | 2024 |
| 2024-10-09 | T4 | R6 | Glycine max L. | 22.4 | 1507.6 | 21.28 | 1432.22 | 2024 |