AGRICULTURE REPORT - Subsoiling Increases Soybean and Cotton

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Subsoiling Increases Soybean and Cotton Production in Clay Soil
By Avi Arditti

Broadcast: Tuesday, September 07, 2004

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Clay soil is a problem for soybean farmers. When the soil is dry, the clay shrinks¹ and breaks up. This condition damages the root system of the plants.

A few years ago, two United States Agriculture Department researchers made a discovery. They found a simple way to grow more soybeans in dry soil that contains a lot of heavy clay.

Soybean farmers with heavy clay soils usually till the earth about ten to fifteen centimeters deep. The researchers found that preparing the soil to a depth of thirty to forty centimeters is better. The seeds are still planted about two to three centimeters below the surface.

The system of preparing the soil this way is called subsoiling. It breaks up hard areas of soil that form when the clay dries. And it does not harm crop materials on the surface.

Subsoiling is done with a device² that looks something like a large hook³ to catch fish. Farmers pull it through the ground to break up the soil structure.

Subsoiling permits water to reach areas below the surface quickly. More water is stored in the soil than would be with traditional ways.

Increasing the ability of the soil to hold water produces bigger crops. It also helps the environment. Less water runs off the land. And less soil is washed away. The researchers said that subsoiling is probably not needed every year.

Richard Wesley and Lowrey Smith made their discovery at an Agricultural Research Service laboratory⁴ in the state of Mississippi. They found that farms with deep subsoiling produced almost fifty percent more soybeans than farms with traditional methods.

The farms with subsoiling produced, on average, more than four hundred seventy kilograms of soybeans per hectare. Farm with traditional planting, but without watering systems, produced three hundred twenty kilograms per hectare.

Lowrey Smith also found improvements⁵ with cotton. Studies in the past showed that subsoiling clay soil in the spring does not improve cotton harvests. In the spring, the soil still holds rainwater. So the subsoiling process is unable to change the soil structure to prepare it for cotton production.

Mister⁶ Smith did his studies in the fall, when the soil was dry. He found that subsoiling in the fall increased harvests of cotton, just as with soybeans.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Avi Arditti. This is Gwen Outen.

1 shrinks   

v.收缩( shrink的第三人称单数 )；（使）缩水；退缩；畏缩

参考例句：

• Meat shrinks by losing some of its fat in cooking. 肉在烹煮时，会因失去一部分脂肪而缩小。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A brave fighter never shrinks from danger in executing an assignment. 一个英勇的战士在执行任务时决不害怕危险。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

3 hook   

vt.钩住；n.钩子，钩状物

参考例句：

• The blacksmith forged a bar of iron into a hook.铁匠把一根铁条锻造成一个钩子。
• He hangs up his scarf on the hook behind the door.他把围巾挂在门后的衣钩上。

4 laboratory   

n.实验室，化验室

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a laboratory.她捐款成立了一个实验室。
• Our laboratory equipment isn't perfect,but we must make do.实验室设备是不够理想，但我们只好因陋就简。

5 improvements   

增加或修改( improvement的名词复数 )； 改进； 改善； 改良

参考例句：

• improvements in efficiency at the factory 工厂效率的提高
• They've spent a lot of money on home improvements. 他们花了很多钱装修家居。

6 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。