Long-term field trials by the Oregon State University Extension Service at Hyslop Farm may help shed light on increasing grass seed yields through improved soil fertility, while at the same time, reducing the need for field burning.

The project is overseen by Extension agronomists Bill Young, who works out of the OSU campus, and Mark Mellbye, who is based at the Old Armory Building in downtown Albany. It is in its third year of a minimum of nine years, the men said. They hope it will be extended to at least 27 years.

The test is being run on plots that are 25 feet wide and 125 feet long. Six types of tillage and rotation systems are replicated three times each on the 450-long test plot.

The test plots include:

* Continuous conventional tillage

* Continuous no-till

* No-till/conventional rotation

* Volunteer/conventional rotation

* Burn and no-till/conventional tillage

* Volunteer/no-till/conventional tillage

“We hope that we find ways of reducing both smoke and dust, as well as the amount of fuel needed for grass seed production,” Mellbye said. “There are many long-term economic and social values that can be addressed through this study.”

Although field burning has been a major battle for several years, Mellbye predicts dust will someday join it as a headline maker.

The tests are also being used to gather economic data concerning input costs versus yield and net return, the men said.

The agronomists are taking the following soil measurements each year:

* Soil water and dissolved nutrients; movement and retention

* Soil: movement and re-entry following irrigation/rain

* Soil physical strengths

* Soil strength

One long-term field trials has gone on for 164 years, Young said. That trial, in Rothamsted, England, started in 1843. The University of Illinois has maintained the “Morrow Plots” since 1876. They have been designated National Historic Landmarks.

The oldest continuos test plots in Oregon are at the Pendleton Agricultural Research Center, and started in 1931.

During an annual field day last spring, Young told visitors that the test plots may also be used to factor in carbon sequestration data. That information may lead to farmers selling “carbon credits” from their ag production ventures.

“Or, we may find ourselves more interested in the potential for biofuel production,” Young said. “Taking the straw for a cellulosic conversion to ethanol.”