Century Experiment
This experiment has been added by the GLTEN Curators using existing published sources.
- Objective
- To study how farm management practices impact the ecology of the farm over the seasons, years, and decades and learn how to make agriculture and food production more sustainable.
- Description
- The Russell Ranch archives contains samples of each crop and soil from every system from 1993 to present and are accessible on site at Russell Ranch. To access soil and plant archived samples, please send a request to Israel Herrera (igherrera@ucdavis.edu).
- Data Access Statement
- Available online with registration
- Data Access Notes
- Data is available for download online, but users must follow the Russell Ranch Data Use Policy, provided in the following URLs
- Data license
- Other
- Data URL
- https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/rr/research/data
- Data policy
- https://asi.ucdavis.edu/programs/rr/research/data
- Organizations
- UC Davisresearch organisationAgricultural Sustainability Institute, Russell Ranchexperimental research station
- Person
- Israel Herreraexperiment managerRussell Ranch, UC Davis
Site: Century Experiment
- Type
- research station field
- Location
- Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture FacilityCaliforniaUSA
- Geographic location
- 38.542849, -121.874819
- Visits permitted?
- No
- History
- A uniform sudangrass crop was grown in 1993 to to evaluate soil differences with the cropping systems first planted in 1994.
- Climatic type
- warm mediterranean climate
Design period: (1993—)
- Description
- The Century Experiment studies cropping systems with combinations of rainfed and irrigated systems, and organic and conventional systems, and different forms and quantity of nitrogen inputs.
- Crops
Crop Years grown maize native species alfalfa wheat tomatoes fallow legumes - Crop Rotations
- corn-tomato 1994—
- 1tomatoes
- 2maize
wheat-fallow 1994—- 1wheat
- 2fallow
wheat-tomato 1994—- 1wheat
- 2tomatoes
wheat-legume 1994—- 1wheat
- 2legumes
6-year-alfalfa-tomato-corn 2012—- 1alfalfa
- 2alfalfa
- 3alfalfa
- 4tomatoes
- 5maize
- 6tomatoes
perennial native grass 2012—- 1native speciesSeed mix including nodding needlegrass (Nassella cernua), pine bluegrass (Poa secunda), three week fescue (Vulpia microstachys), squirreltail (Elymus multisetus), California oniongrass (Melica californias), and purple needlegrass (Nassella pulchra)
- Factors
- Factor name
- Factor levels
- irrigation process Plot application: Whole plot
rainfed process
full irrigation
supplemental irrigation
surface drainage
- nitrogen fertilizer exposure Plot application: Whole plot
control exposure
unfertilizedgreen manure
As cover cropstraw compost
inorganic fertilizers
compost
- Measurements
Variable Material Units Frequency Scale Comment yield trait Not specified soil properties Soil biodiversity Not specified economic data Not specified water use Not specified energy use Not specified
Related publications
- Century Experiment website
- Wolf, K.M., Torbert, E.E., Bryant, D., Burger, M., Denison, R.F., Herrera, I., Hopmans, J., Horwath, W., Kaffka, S., Kong, A.Y.Y., Norris, R.F., Six, J., Tomich, T.P. and Scow, K.M. (2018), The century experiment: the first twenty years of UC Davis' Mediterranean agroecological experiment. Ecology, 99: 503-503. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2105 [In English]