Dataset: Woburn Ley-arable experiment cropping sequence 1938-2020

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Summary

Cropping details of the Woburn Ley-arable experiment, 1938-2020, with details of the arable and ley-arable rotation sequences in each of the five Blocks, and the different treatment crops and varieties. Updated from Version 1, with addition of a cropping database. The experiment was designed to test the effects of different rotations with and without leys (short-term herbage) on the yield of two arable Test crops. It is now an important resource for investigating long-term changes in soil organic matter due to different cropping systems.

Methods

The Woburn Ley-arable Experiment, started in 1938, compares the effects of continuous arable rotations and ley-arable rotations on soil organic matter and the yield of two arable test crops, on a sandy loam soil. It consists of 80 main plots, divided over five blocks. Half the plots have been in four continuous five-year arable or ley-arable rotations since 1938: three years of Treatment crops followed by two arable Test crops. The Treatments were: Ah/AB/ABe (all arable rotation with 1-year hay or beans); Ar/AF/AM/AO (all arable rotation with roots or fallow or maize or oats); L/Ln3 (3-year grazed ley then grass ley with fertilizer N); Lu/Lc3 (3-year legume then grass/clover ley).
The other 40 plots were in alternating rotations from 1938 to the mid-1970s: a 20-year cycle of all four arable and ley-arable rotations. These were replaced by eight-year grass or grass/clover leys in the mid-1970s: LLn8 (8-year grass leys with fertilizer N, followed by two arable test crops); LLc8 (8-year grass/clover leys, followed by two arable test crops). The rotations are phased in over a five-year period in the five different blocks, so that each year of the five-year rotation is present each year. The eight-year leys were also phased in, the first cycle starting 1973-77, the second cycle 1978-82. The four eight-year leys were stopped in 2007 and replaced with AO (continuous arable with oats); ABe (continuous arable with beans); Ln3 (three-year grass leys with nitrogen); Lc3 (three-year grass/clover leys).

Technical Information

The main plots are in pairs, one of each pair received FYM (farmyard manure) applied every fifth year, to the first test crop, 1941-1967.

Related Documents

• Details of the Classical and Long-term experiments up to 1962 :
• Details of the Classical and Long-term experiments up to 1967 :
• Details of the Classical and Long-term experiments 1968-73 :
• Johnston et al, 2017. Changes in SOM over 70 years in the WLA experiment :
• The Woburn Ley-arable experiment, 1938-2020. Its management :
• Woburn Ley-arable experiment fertilizer and lime applications 1938-2020 :
• Woburn Ley-arable experiment cropping sequence 1938-2020 - V1 - PDF :

Contributors

• Margaret Glendining: Data curator
• Andrew Macdonald: Researcher
• Paul Poulton: Researcher
• Richard Ostler: Data manager
• Nathalie Castells: Data manager
• Andy Gregory: Project leader
• Edward Johnston: Researcher

Dataset Access and Conditions

Rights Holder

Rothamsted Research

License

This dataset is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence (4.0).

Cite this Dataset

YOU MUST CITE AS: Margaret Glendining, Paul Poulton, Andrew Macdonald, Richard Ostler, Edward Johnston (2022). Dataset: Woburn Ley-arable experiment cropping sequence 1938-2020 Electronic Rothamsted Archive, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK https://doi.org/10.23637/wrn3-cropping1938-2020-02

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Conditions of Use

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