Sustainable Corn Stover removal Systems for Mushroom Substrate Production
Open Access
- Author:
- Houser, Christain
- Graduate Program:
- Agronomy
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- October 11, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Gregory Wayne Roth, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Marvin H Hall, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
David Meigs Beyer, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Richard P Marini, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- Corn Stover
Mushroom Substrate
SMS
Stover Removal
Compost
Soil Carbon
Mushroom compost
compost - Abstract:
- Corn stover has been identified as a new potential feedstock for mushroom substrate production. Corn stover removal can increase soil erosion, deplete soil nutrients and reduce soil carbon if not managed appropriately. To mitigate corn stover removal in some situations, agronomists may need to add amendments like spent mushroom substrate (SMS) or mushroom compost (MC) to assist in to managing soil carbon levels. The objective of this study is to measure the effects of a 75% spring corn stover removal, using that stover as an ingredient for mushroom substrate and returning that SMS as an soil amendment to build soil health. The SMS resulted in an increase in soil C levels in the 0-5 cm soil profile by 81%, and 39% in the 0-25 cm soil profile. In the untreated check, where no stover was removed and no SMS added, soil C in the 0-5 cm soil profile declined by 14% and increased in the 0-25 cm soil profile by only 1.3% over the three year study. The combination of SMS addition and stover harvest also resulted in higher corn yields, lower slug populations, increased revenue, and decreased fertilizer inputs over the course of three a years of corn and three years of a hypothetical alfalfa rotation. Net returns were $4653 higher with the combination of stover harvest and SMS addition over the six years compared with the no stover harvest system. Spring and fall stover harvests were compared to evaluate the impact on the yield and nutrient composition of the stover. Spring harvested yields were reduced by 11% in the first year and 43% in the second year of the study compared to fall yields. Stover nutrient concentrations were generally unchanged, except for potassium, which declined from 7.4 to 3.0 g kg-1 or a 59.4% decrease from the fall to the spring. Based on this study, harvest in the spring can reduce nutrient removal and the associated costs and is a viable strategy to reduce the impacts of stover harvest. Overall, this study showed that the combination of partial stover harvest, SMS addition and spring stover harvest could improve returns associated with corn production while maintaining soil carbon levels.