Frick Long-term Experiment
- Local identifier
- Präparateversuch
- Years operational
- 2002—
- Objective
- Effect of tillage, fertilization and biodynamic preparations on soil properties and yield
- Description
- In Frick (Switzerland), a long-term experiment was established at the farm of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in autumn 2002. In this three factorial experiment, a reduced tillage system (with a cultivator) is compared to conventional plowing to a depth of approx. 20 cm, a liquid manure system is compared to a compost manure system and the adding of biodynamic preparations is compared to none preparations. Biodynamic preparations had been assessed previous in system comparison experiments, however, their effect is difficult to elucidate separately in a system comparison approach. One reason for setting up this experiment was therefore a demand among farmers and researchers in early 2000 to disentangle the influence of biodynamic preparations from the influence of manure compost on soil fertility. On the other hand it should be tested, if and how reduced tillage is feasible in organic farming.
- Data Access Statement
- Available to any researcher on request
- Data Access Notes
- Data and archived samples are available to researchers on request (archived samples: depending on the amount required) and in collaboration with the data owners, provided there are no conflicts of interest with existing users.
- Data license
- Don't know
- Data policy
- Don't know
- Organization
- Research Institute of Organic Agricultureresearch organisation
+41 62 865 72 72 - People
- Dr. Meike Grosseexperiment managerResearch Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse 113, P.O. Box 219, 5070 Frick, SwitzerlandDepartment of Soil Sciences
+41 62 865 6397 Dr. Paul Maederprincipal investigatorResearch Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse 113, P.O. Box 219, 5070 Frick, SwitzerlandDepartment of Soil SciencesDr. Maike KraussResearch Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), Ackerstrasse 113, P.O. Box 219, 5070 Frick, SwitzerlandDepartment of Soil Sciences
Site: CH-5070 Frick
- Type
- research farm
- Location
- FrickAargauSwitzerland
- Geographic location
- 47.511983, 8.023667
- Elevation
- 350 Metres
- Visits permitted?
- Yes
- Visiting arrangements
- Visits are possible for professionals after arrangement by email or telephone.
- History
- Before the trial was established the land had been managed organically for seven years according to European Union Regulation (EC) No. 2092/91 (later No. 834/2007) and was certified to the Bio Suisse Standards, with an arable-ley rotation ploughed to 15–20 cm. Previously, the farm had been conventional with an arable-ley rotation ploughed to 25 cm. In 2010, the farm was converted to biodynamic farming (Demeter certification).
- Management
- organic
- Soil type
- cambisol
- Soil description
- The soil is a clay loamy soil, a stagnic eutric Cambisol. It consists of 45% clay, 33% silt and 22% sand. It had 2.2% soil organic carbon and a pH of 7.1 (H2O) in 2002. The soil was rich in available P and K at trial start.
- Climatic type
- temperate oceanic climate
- Climate description
- The annual average temperature and precipitation in 2003–2018 was 10.4 °C and 1030 mm respectively.
Design period: Ongoing (2002—)
- Design Type
- Split-plot
- Description
- The crop rotation was modified slightly over the years with silage maize, winter wheat, an oat-clover-vetch intercrop, sunflower, spelt and a 2-year grass-clover ley mixture in the first two rotations. Since the third rotation, winter wheat was grown after grass-clover to facilitate ley termination in the reduced tillage plots in late summer and to adjust for the new rotation of the FiBL farm. The third rotation accordingly consisted of winter wheat, silage maize, spelt and two years of grass-clover since 2014.
- Design description
- The three factors – tillage, fertilisation and biodynamic preparations – were arranged in a strip-split plot design. These eight treatments were replicated four times to total 32 plots of 12 × 12 m size that allow for management with normal farm machinery. Block distribution accounts for the spatial gradient in clay content.
- Number of subplots
- 32
- Number of replicates
- 4
- Crops
Crop Years grown maize winter wheat cover crop sunflower spelt grass clover leys - Crop Rotations
- Crop rotation 1 2002—2014
- 1maize
- 2winter wheat
- 3cover crop
- 4sunflower
- 5spelt
- 6grass clover leys
Crop rotation 2 2014—- 1winter wheat
- 2maize
- 3spelt
- 4grass clover leys
- Factors
- Factor name
- Factor levels
- tillage process Annual full inversion tillage with a mouldboard plough (15 to 18 cm depth) is compared to annual shallow mixing in the 1st and 2nd rotation (up to 5 cm depth (Rototiller, “Stoppelhobel”) and loosening to 15 cm after wheat (“WEcoDyn” chisel) and in the third Rotation annual shallow non-inversion tillage to 5–10 cm (“WEcoDyn” chisel).
conventional tillage (15-18 cm depth)
Application method: mouldboard ploughreduced tillage (5 cm depth)
Application method: chisel plough- natural fertilizer exposure Liquid cattle slurry (SL) is compared to liquid cattle slurry, 0.5 times the rate of SL, plus composted cattle manure.
slurry (1 livestock unit)
Chemical form: slurryfarmyard manure (1 livestock unit)
Chemical form: cattle manure- biodynamic preparations The application of biodynamic preparations is compared to no application.
Without
With
BD500 – cattle manure, BD501 – silica, BD502 – Achillea millefolium L., BD503 – Matricaria recutita L., BD504 Urtica dioica L., BD505 – Quercus robur L., BD506 – Taraxacum officinale, Wiggers, BD507 – Valeriana officinalis L.
- Measurements
Variable Material Units Frequency Scale Comment yield components All crops annually grain yield trait All crops thousand grain weight All crops hectolitre grain weight All crops plant height All crops plant density All crops plant biomass All crops plant quality traits All crops weed abundance All crops weed species richness All crops soil pH Soil soil organic matter Soil soil density Soil water holding capacity Soil texture Soil aggregate stability Soil total soil nitrogen Soil plant available nitrogen Soil earthworms Soil phosphorous content Soil potassium content Soil calcium content Soil magnesium content Soil microbial biomass Soil dehydrogenase activity Soil basal respiration Soil mycorrhiza Soil nematodes Soil
Related publications
- Enhanced soil quality with reduced tillage and solid manures in organic farming – a synthesis of 15 years https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61320-8 [In English]
- Crop yield and soil fertility response to reduced tillage under organic management https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2008.07.012 [In English]
- Reduced tillage in temperate organic farming: implications for crop management and forage production https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2009.00253.x [In English]
- Tillage effects on weed communities in an organic winter wheat–sunflower–spelt cropping sequence https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3180.2011.00859.x [In English]
- Impact of reduced tillage on soil organic carbon and nutrient budgets under organic farming https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170510000554 [In English]
- Influence of reduced tillage on earthworm and microbial communities under organic arable farming https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedobi.2013.08.005 [In English]
- Long-term feasibility of reduced tillage in organic farming https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-014-0249-y [In English]
- Soil Organic Carbon and Soil Bio-Physicochemical Properties as Co-Influenced by Tillage Treatment https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2014.07.0288 [In English]
- Impact of conservation tillage and organic farming on the diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.02.005 [In English]
- Impact of reduced tillage on greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon stocks in an organic grass-clover ley - winter wheat cropping sequence https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.029 [In English]
- Tillage system affects fertilizer-induced nitrous oxide emissions https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-016-1152-2 [In English]
- A long-term field experiment demonstrates the influence of tillage on the bacterial potential to produce soil structure-stabilizing agents such as exopolysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides https://doi.org/10.1186/s40793-019-0341-7 [In English]
- Effects of Reduced Tillage on Weed Pressure, Nitrogen Availability and Winter Wheat Yields under Organic Management https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9040180 [In English]
- Impacts of bio-dynamic preparations, reduced tillage and fertilization on yield and soil fertility (Frick trial)