Jump-Starting Fall Cover Crops By Relay Cropping: The Case of Italian Ryegrass and Corn

Citation

Hunt, D; Bittman, S., Koenig, K. and Telford, G. Jump-Starting Fall Cover Crops By Relay Cropping; The Case of Italian Ryegrass and Corn. ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meetings Nov. 10-13, 2019.

Plain language summary

Improving the establishment of Italian ryegrass in corn to enhance its quality as a winter cover crop and livestock feed has both environmental and economic benefits for producers. Winter cover crops provide benefits in terms of soil protection, soil quality and various other environmental services. The benefits can be even greater if the cover crop provides direct economic returns for the farmer. For dairy farmers in temperate regions, coupling a winter crop with silage corn is especially important since corn is otherwise quite susceptible to nutrient loss when the soil is bare and may not offer enough protective cover through the winter. Many farmers plant cover crops such as winter wheat but these crops are not always adequately established before winter, especially when the corn is harvested late and fall weather is cool or dry. Attempts have been made to jumpstart cover crops by intercropping them with corn but most cover crops will not survive well in the dark and damp conditions found under the corn canopy. An exception is biennial Italian ryegrass which can generally persist under corn canopies provided there is adequate soil moisture. Italian ryegrass is potentially an excellent cover crop and complements corn as a dairy feed.

Abstract

The benefits of winter cover cropping is generally appreciated in terms of soil protection, soil quality and various other environmental services. The benefits can be even greater if the cover crop provides direct economic returns for the farmer. For dairy farmers in temperate regions, coupling a winter crop with silage corn is especially important as the corn is otherwise quite susceptible to nutrients loss when the soil is bare and may not offer enough protective cover or return enough carbon to the soil. Many farmers plant cover crops such as winter wheat but these crops are not always adequately established before winter, especially when the corn is harvested late and fall weather is cool or dry. Attempts have been made to jumpstart cover crops by intercropping them with corn but most cover crops will not survive well in the dark and damp corn understory. An exception is biennial Italian ryegrass which can generally persist under a corn canopies provided there is adequate soil moisture. Italian ryegrass is potentially an excellent cover crop and complements corn as a dairy feed. This paper will present our recent efforts to improve the establishment of Italian ryegrass in corn to enhance its quality as a winter cover crop and livestock feed.