Winter rye as a cover crop following soybean under conservation tillage

• Published in: Agronomy journal Vol. 89
• Main Authors: Kessavalou A, Walters D.T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: abonos nitrogenados; absorcion de sustancias nutritivas; absorption de substances nutritives; alelopatia; allelopathie; allelopathy; application rates; cero labranza; conservation tillage; contenido de materia seca; contenido de nitrogeno; cover plants; crop residues; crop yield; cultivation; cultivo; cultivo secuencial; culture sequentielle; dose d' application; dosis de aplicacion; dry matter content; engrais azote; glycine max; grain; granos; labranza de conservacion; monocultivo; monoculture; nebraska; nitrogen content; nitrogen fertilizers; non travail du sol; nutrient uptake; paille; paja; plantas de cobertura; plante de couverture; pratique culturale; rendement des cultures; rendimiento de cultivos; residu de recolte; residuos de cosechas; rotacion de cultivos; rotation culturale; rotational cropping; secale cereale; sequential cropping; straw; teneur en azote; teneur en matiere seche; travail du sol de conservation; zea mays; zero tillage
• ISSN: 0002-1962; 1435-0645

Rotation of corn (Zea mays L.) with soybean [Glycine max L. Merr.] provides certain economic and environmental advantages over monoculture corn. Low soybean residue production and persistence, however, promote potentially excessive soil erosion following soybean harvest. An irrigated field experiment was conducted in eastern Nebraska for 4 yr (1990-1993) under various tillage treatments and N rates to evaluate the effects of a winter rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop following soybean on (i) rye dry matter yield, (ii) surface residue cover for erosion protection, and (iii) corn establishment and production. The soil was a Sharpsburg silty clay loam (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic Typic Argiudolls). Treatments were (i) no-tillage and disk tillage: (ii) corn following soybean with a winter rye cover crop (CBR), corn following soybean without rye (CB) and corn following corn (CC): and (iii) 0, 50, 100, 150, and 300 kg N ha-1 (applied to corn). Rye aboveground dry matter yield, surface residue cover, and corn yield parameters were estimated. Rye dry matter yield ranged from 0.25 to 2.9 Mg ha-1 and was influenced by tillage, N rate, and weather conditions in different years. During the years of high rye dry matter yield, presence of rye in the corn-soybean system gave approximately 16% additional surface residue cover prior to planting through cultivation, compared with soybean residue alone. Surface cover by rye and soybean residues in CBR was equivalent to corn residue in CC under both disk and no-till management. In 1 of the 3 yr, corn plant population and grain yield were reduced following rye (CBR) compared with the no rye system (CB), possibly due to apparent allelopathic effects related to the age of rye. No significant difference in N response was observed between CBR and CB corn yields. In general, rotation of corn with soybean (with and without rye) resulted in an increase of approximately 27% in corn grain yield and N uptake over continuous corn.