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 Davis
research organisation
Agricultural Sustainability Institute, Russell Ranch
experimental research station
Person
Israel Herrera
experiment manager
Russell Ranch, UC Davis

Site: Century Experiment

Type
research station field
Location
Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility
California
USA
Geographic location
38.542849, -121.874819
© OpenStreetMap contributors
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
CropYears grown
maize
native species
alfalfa
wheat
tomatoes
fallow
legumes
Crop Rotations
corn-tomato  1994—
  • 1
    tomatoes
  • 2
    maize
wheat-fallow  1994—
  • 1
    wheat
  • 2
    fallow
wheat-tomato  1994—
  • 1
    wheat
  • 2
    tomatoes
wheat-legume  1994—
  • 1
    wheat
  • 2
    legumes
6-year-alfalfa-tomato-corn  2012—
  • 1
    alfalfa
  • 2
    alfalfa
  • 3
    alfalfa
  • 4
    tomatoes
  • 5
    maize
  • 6
    tomatoes
perennial native grass  2012—
  • 1
    native species
    Seed 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
unfertilized
green manure
As cover crop
straw compost
inorganic fertilizers
compost
Measurements
VariableMaterialUnitsFrequencyScaleComment
yield traitNot specified
soil propertiesSoil
biodiversityNot specified
economic dataNot specified
water useNot specified
energy useNot 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.