Conservation Agriculture with High Tunnels - Reyes

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Conservation Agriculture with High Tunnels
Don Immanuel Edralin, Ph.D.Don Immanuel Edralin, Ph.D.
Manuel R. Reyes, Ph.D.
Biological Engineering Program
July 28, 2015 – 3:30 Pm
Imperial H, Adaptive Management
70th
Soil and Water Conservation Service International
July 26-29, 2015
Annual Conference
Greensboro, NC

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Don Immanuel Edralin

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Lorna
Software Engineer
SAS, Cary, NC
Thanks to myThanks to my wifewife
Geyser Yellowstone National Park

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Part of HeadquartersPart of Headquarters
Stark IndustriesStark Industries
Iron Man 3Iron Man 3
4

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Micah
North Carolina State
University, BS Civil and
Environmental
Engineering, and MS in
Marine Sciences;
currently designing
sailboat parts with Hall
Spars and Rigging,
Bristol, Rhode Island, 30
years old no girlfriend. I
told him my need to be a
grand dad, he said not yet.
Thanks to my son MicahThanks to my son Micah

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20112011
12 years old12 years old
ZachZach kissing an ancient smilingkissing an ancient smiling
face in Angkor Wat, Cambodiaface in Angkor Wat, Cambodia
20122012
Thanks to my son ZachThanks to my son Zach

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20132013
Thanks to my son ZachThanks to my son Zach
20142014

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This is a part of a Global Study funded by:This is a part of a Global Study funded by:
French Agency
for
International
Development

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Funded by Evans Allen
Research Program:

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Presentation outline
 Background
 Objective
 Method
 Results
 Conclusion
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The irony:
 “A third (2.4 billion) of the world’s 7.3 billion people are
smallholder farmers and their families who produce
nearly 70% of all food consumed worldwide on 60% of
the planet’s arable land.” theguardian
 They are marginalized and very little investments are
provided to them, especially on research
11

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N.C. A&T targets this population
 This research is part of a global research.
 N.C. A&T is conducting studies applying conservation
agriculture in vegetable production systems on
commercial home gardeners farming 200 square
meters (0.05 acres) or less.
12

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AFRICAAFRICA
13

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ETHIOPIA

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TANZANIA

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GHANA

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CENTRALCENTRAL
AMERICAAMERICA
17

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HONDURAS

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GUATEMALA

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ASIAASIA
20

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NEPAL
21

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PHILIPPINES

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CAMBODIA
23

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USAUSA
24

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MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS, NC

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HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, NC

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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, NCA&T

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GRADUATE STUDENTS, NCA&T

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INDONESIAN POST DOC, NCA&T

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NC SMALL HOLDER FARMER
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ONE FOCUSONE FOCUS
Conservation AgricultureConservation Agriculture
Vegetable ProductionVegetable Production
System for SmallholdersSystem for Smallholders
31

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MMcDcD

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Minimal soil disturbance
No tillage
MMcDcD

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Minimum soil disturbance
no-tillage

www.ncat.eduNorth Carolina
Continuous mulch
MMccDD

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Continuous mulchContinuous mulch

www.ncat.eduNorth Carolina
Diverse species
McDMcD

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Diverse speciesDiverse species

Conservation AgricultureConservation Agriculture
with High Tunnelswith High Tunnels

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 Background
 Objective
»To determine if Conservation
Agriculture will affect vegetable
yield in high tunnels
 Method
 Results
 Conclusion
43

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 Background
 Objective
 Method
 Results
 Conclusion
44

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 210 meters above sea level (masl).
 Autryville sand with 0-3% slope (USDA Web Soil
Survey)
 common for Southern coastal plain, Carolina and
Georgia Sand Hills, Atlantic coast Flatwoods and
tidewater area
 Soil is very deep, well drained with no flooding,
and surface run-off is negligible to very low.
 Water holding capacity of the area is low
Site description

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Land management strategies effect on soil
quality and crop productivity in North Carolina
 Site Identification and field establishment
Replication 1Replication 2
Replication 3
Replication 4

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Experimental farm layout in Jackson, Springs NC. Gray rectangles represent
the high tunnels and the dark rectangles for open field (Photo obtained from
Bing.com)

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Experimental design
 2 by 4 factorial laid out in split-plot design with
4 replications.
 Statistical analysis was done using SAS 9.2.
Treatment mean differences whenever
significant were separated using Fishers
protected LSD test at 95% level of
significance.
48

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Experimental design
Conservation agriculture experimental treatments
Main plot
Tunnel No tunnel
Subplots Conservation Agriculture (CS 1)* Conservation Agriculture (CS1)
Manual/ Roto tiller Tillage (CS 1) Manual/ Roto tiller Tillage (CS 1)
Conservation Agriculture (CS 2) Conservation Agriculture (CS 2)
Manual/ Roto tiller Tillage (CS 2) Manual/ Roto tiller Tillage (CS 2)
* CS 1 – Cropping system 1: Brocolli, Tomato, Collards; CS
2 – Cropping system 2: Cauliflower- Squash (Zephyr-F1) -
Green bell pepper – mustard greens Radish

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 Background
 Objective
 Method
 Results
 Conclusion
50

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Results
 1st
and 2nd
crop not reported – establishment
phase and crop damage due to deer,
respectively. – the experiment is now with
electric fence
 Yield of 3rd
(Zephyr squash) and 4th
(California
Bell pepper) crop for crop cycle 1 and 3rd
(German Johnson tomato) crop of crop cycle 2
is reported.

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Vegetable crop productivity
Treatment Cycle 1 – 3rd crop (T/ha) German Johnson Tomatoes
Main plots Marketable
yield
(tons/ha)
No. of
Marketable
fruits per
hectare
Unmarketable
Yield
(tons/ha) ns
No. of
unmarketable
fruits per
hectare ns
Tunnel 5.7ns
33333ns
2.8ns
19584ns
Open 1.62 12084 1.0 7917
Subplot
CA 4.2ns
22500ns
2.5ns
16667ns
Tilled 3.1 22917 1.3 10833
Interaction effect
Tunnel x practice
ns ns ns ns
+
Means having the same letters under the same column and the same mainplot or subplot
are not significantly different at 5% α level of significance as indicated by Fisher’s
protected LSD test.
ns – not significant at 5% α

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(only inside tunnels grew well due to winter)
Treatment Cycle 1 – 4th crop (T/ha) Collard greens
Inside tunnels Marketable yield
CA 4.97ns
Tilled 4.07
+
Means having the same letters under the same column and the same mainplot or subplot
are not significantly different at 5% α level of significance as indicated by Fisher’s
protected LSD test.

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Vegetable crop productivity
Treatment Cycle 2 - 3rd
crop (T/ha) Zephyr Squash
Main plots Marketable
yield
(tons/ha)
No. of
Marketable
fruits per
hectare
Unmarketable
Yield
(tons/ha) ns
No. of
unmarketable
fruits per
hectare ns
Tunnel 3.1a**
46845a*
0.7a*
22933a*
Open 0.6b
50514b
0.1b
2935b
Subplot
CA 1.8ns
23606ns
0.3ns
9173ns
Tilled 1.9 31311 0.6 16695
Interaction effect
Tunnel x practice
ns ns ns ns
+
Means having the same letters under the same column and under the same main plot or
subplot are not significantly different at 5% α level of significance as indicated by Fisher’s
protected LSD test.

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Treatment Cycle 2 – 4th
crop (T/ha) California bell pepper
Subplot Marketable
yield
(tons/ha) **
No. of
Marketable
fruits per
hectare **
Unmarketable
Yield
(tons/ha) **
No. of
unmarketable
fruits per
hectare **
Tunnel CA 8.96a
107084a
1.13a
20833a
Tunnel Tilled 2.00b
28333b
0.34b
6667b
Open CA 0.04c
1667bc
0b
0c
Open Tilled 0.00c
0c
0b
0c
Interaction effect
Tunnel x practice
** ** ** **
+
Means having the same letters under the same column are not significantly different at 5%
α level of significance as indicated by Fisher’s protected LSD test.
**- Significant at 1% alpha level of significance

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(only inside tunnels grew well due to winter)
Treatment Cycle 2 – 5th crop (T/ha) Collard greens
Inside tunnels Marketable yield
CA 4.4ns
Tilled 5.7

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Summary
 Growing in high tunnels gives higher yield in early
spring due to the warmth provided by the tunnel
 Growing in high tunnels in winter results to greater yield
that may have been cause by less weed competition
 Growing in tunnels during fall to spring provides
protection for vegetables especially from frost and leads
to greater yields
 Significant yield increase was observed as a result of
CA in 1 crop while the rest did not show any effect on
yield
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Conclusion
 High tunnels are important to promote better yields and
may be due to warmth and the tunnel also protected
against weed growth (possibly weed suppression from
wind carrying weed seeds).
 Conservation agriculture effect is variable but did not
show any significant reduction in yield. It however
shows increase in yield in one crop.
58
Future activities
•Further tests are needed to be able to attain conclusive results on CA’s effect on
yield.

Conservation Agriculture with High Tunnels - Reyes

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