Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation

Making the best use of limited precipitation in semi-arid dryland cropping systems is important for crop production. Tillage practices may influence how this precipitation is utilized to predict winter wheat grain yield (Triticum aestivum L.). This study examined how tillage practices influence wint...

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Main Authors: Lawrence Aula, Amanda C. Easterly, Cody F. Creech
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Agronomy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fagro.2023.1067371/full
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author Lawrence Aula
Amanda C. Easterly
Cody F. Creech
author_facet Lawrence Aula
Amanda C. Easterly
Cody F. Creech
author_sort Lawrence Aula
collection DOAJ
description Making the best use of limited precipitation in semi-arid dryland cropping systems is important for crop production. Tillage practices may influence how this precipitation is utilized to predict winter wheat grain yield (Triticum aestivum L.). This study examined how tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction accuracy using precipitation received at three different periods of the season. Data were obtained from the period of 1972 to 2010 from a long-term tillage experiment. The study was designed as a winter wheat-fallow experiment. Each phase of the winter wheat-fallow rotation was present each year. The trial was set up as a randomized complete block design with three replications. Tillage treatments included no-till (NT), stubble mulch (SM), and moldboard plow (MP). Feed-forward neural network and multiple linear regression (ordinary least squares) were used to fit models under each tillage practice. No-till had the highest yield prediction accuracy with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.53 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 81% of the variability in grain yield. Stubble mulch had an RMSE of 0.55 Mg ha-1 and explained 73% of the variability in yield. Stubble mulch and NT were more accurate in yield prediction than MP which had an RMSE of 0.77 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 53% of the variability in yield. The multiple linear regression model was less accurate than the feed-forward neural network model since it had at least 0.30 Mg ha-1 more RMSE and accounted for only 5-8% of the variability in yield. Relative RMSE classified all neural network models as fair (21.6-27.3%) while linear regression models for the different tillage practices was classified as poor (33.3-43.6%), an illustration that the neural network models improve yield prediction accuracy. This study demonstrated that a large proportion of the variability in grain yield may be accounted for under NT and SM systems when using precipitation as predictors with neural networks.
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spelling doaj.art-e1c48292826046968d3f4f07ec201b282023-02-06T06:52:41ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Agronomy2673-32182023-02-01510.3389/fagro.2023.10673711067371Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitationLawrence Aula0Amanda C. Easterly1Cody F. Creech2Panhandle Research, Extension, and Education Center, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Scottsbluff, NE, United StatesHigh Plains Agricultural Laboratory, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sidney, NE, United StatesPanhandle Research, Extension, and Education Center, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Scottsbluff, NE, United StatesMaking the best use of limited precipitation in semi-arid dryland cropping systems is important for crop production. Tillage practices may influence how this precipitation is utilized to predict winter wheat grain yield (Triticum aestivum L.). This study examined how tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction accuracy using precipitation received at three different periods of the season. Data were obtained from the period of 1972 to 2010 from a long-term tillage experiment. The study was designed as a winter wheat-fallow experiment. Each phase of the winter wheat-fallow rotation was present each year. The trial was set up as a randomized complete block design with three replications. Tillage treatments included no-till (NT), stubble mulch (SM), and moldboard plow (MP). Feed-forward neural network and multiple linear regression (ordinary least squares) were used to fit models under each tillage practice. No-till had the highest yield prediction accuracy with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.53 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 81% of the variability in grain yield. Stubble mulch had an RMSE of 0.55 Mg ha-1 and explained 73% of the variability in yield. Stubble mulch and NT were more accurate in yield prediction than MP which had an RMSE of 0.77 Mg ha-1 and accounted for 53% of the variability in yield. The multiple linear regression model was less accurate than the feed-forward neural network model since it had at least 0.30 Mg ha-1 more RMSE and accounted for only 5-8% of the variability in yield. Relative RMSE classified all neural network models as fair (21.6-27.3%) while linear regression models for the different tillage practices was classified as poor (33.3-43.6%), an illustration that the neural network models improve yield prediction accuracy. This study demonstrated that a large proportion of the variability in grain yield may be accounted for under NT and SM systems when using precipitation as predictors with neural networks.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fagro.2023.1067371/fullyield prediction accuracytillage practicesprecipitationwinter wheatfeed-forward neural networkmultiple linear regression
spellingShingle Lawrence Aula
Amanda C. Easterly
Cody F. Creech
Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
Frontiers in Agronomy
yield prediction accuracy
tillage practices
precipitation
winter wheat
feed-forward neural network
multiple linear regression
title Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
title_full Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
title_fullStr Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
title_full_unstemmed Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
title_short Tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
title_sort tillage practices influence winter wheat grain yield prediction using seasonal precipitation
topic yield prediction accuracy
tillage practices
precipitation
winter wheat
feed-forward neural network
multiple linear regression
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fagro.2023.1067371/full
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AT amandaceasterly tillagepracticesinfluencewinterwheatgrainyieldpredictionusingseasonalprecipitation
AT codyfcreech tillagepracticesinfluencewinterwheatgrainyieldpredictionusingseasonalprecipitation