Yield Response to Corn Stover Harvest In the Northern Corn Belt.

Corn stover is targeted as a potential non-food bioenergy feedstock, especially in the Midwest United States.  Three parallel experiments on adjacent fields, one is managed without tillage since 1995, a second experiment is managed without tillage since 2005, and the third is managed with chisel plowing since 2005.  The residue removal treatments are the same in all experiments, with 0, 50%, 75% and 100% of the rows from plots in the corn phase of the rotation harvested. In 2008, the 75% stover removal was changed to cob removal. The No tillage experiment established in 2005 had stover first removed in 2006.  Plant data includes grain, cob and stover yield, the mass of residue remaining in the field, plant moisture and spring soil cover.  Soybean yield was similar among residue treatment in the Chisel plow and No tillage since 2005 experiments.  However, in the No tillage since 1995 experiment, soybean yield decreased with increasing residue removal in 2010.  Corn in 2010 harvest was not altered by residue harvest. These plots are in a corn-soybean rotation.  The soybean crop following stover harvest may buffer some of the immediate microclimate impacts of residue management. A brief summary of plant and soil response will be presented.