( Ngouajio and Mennan, 2005 ) and the composition of weed flora in citrus groves ( Wright et al., 2003 ). Cover crop residues may also alter soil microbial ecology or increase microbial diversity, resulting in enhanced weed seed predation by soil
, conservation tillage systems have been promoted to obtain the benefits of conventional no-till or strip-tilled systems, including reducing soil erosion, conserving soil moisture, and increasing soil fertility through cover crop residues ( Hoyt et al., 1994
production of Honeycrisp apples in Ontario Agdex 211/32. Queen's Printer of Ontario Toronto, ON, Canada Doel, D.S. Honeycutt, C.W. Halteman, W.A. 1990 Soil water effects on the use of heat units to predict crop residue carbon and nitrogen mineralization Biol
+ 32 = °F, 1 mm = 0.0394 inch. Two methods were used to prepare fields before planting, conventional tillage and no-till. In the no-till treatments, cover crop residue was left on the surface. Treatments included conventional tillage (Conv), no
weathered and mineralized soils, which tend to be eroded and have low residual organic matter contents ( Brye et al., 2013 ). Returning crop residues or other plant matter to the soil, thereby increasing soil C, directly impacts SOM, humus content, and the
-cropped for several years before the study. Field preparation included disc harrowing and ring rolling (i.e., cultipacking) as needed to incorporate previous cover crop residue and break up large clods. A global positioning system-guided tractor with lister
, P. 2013 Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams bon chretien Sci. Hort. 150 16 21 Daughtry, C.S.T. 2001 Discriminating crop residues from soil by shortwave infrared
. Ros, P. Fernández, A. Lacasa, A. Bello, A. 2006 Use of pepper crop residues for the control of root-knot nematodes Bioresour. Technol. 98 2846 2851 Reifschneider, F.J.B. Boiteux, L.S. Della Vecchia, P.T. Poulos, J.M. Kuroda, N. 1992 Inheritance of
contribution will be influenced by the potential width of the legume planting; tractor traffic clearly reduced legume performance, but less so in ladino clover. In addition, a better understanding of surface applied crop residue mineralization is needed to more
, combined, can increase watermelon WUE and water conservation ( Yang et al., 2017 ). In addition to these practices, organic input, which includes the application of organic materials (compost, humic substances, biochar, etc.), cover crop residues, and