Growing our food, feed, fiber, fuel

Cover Crops CREC Research Review

Ezra Aberle Agronomy Research Specialist

North Dakota State University

Carrington Research Extension Center

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Cover crop research at the CREC

New and continuing projects

1. Oat forage variety and regrowth

2. Brassica forages

3. Under seeded Annual forages

4. Field Pea relay cover crop

5. Cover crops after spring wheat

6. Inter seeded cover crops

7. “Precision” cover crops

8. Salinity cover crops

Photo courtesy of Susan Muske

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2003 Forage oat variety trial & regrowth

Photo courtesy of Charlie White First Cut Second Cut Total

Plant Yield Plant Yield Yield

Variety Height dry wt. Height dry wt. dry wt.

inches tons/ac inches tons/ac tons/ac

AC Assiniboia 43.5 3.24 18.1 0.33 3.58

Ebeltoft 39.5 3.19 17.1 0.34 3.53

Ensiler 46.4 3.12 17.9 0.25 3.38

Forage Plus 44.5 3.30 15.9 0.35 3.66

HiFi 40.7 3.07 18.8 0.38 3.46

Jerry 41.9 2.98 18.9 0.40 3.38

Killdeer 35.6 2.96 17.8 0.63 3.59

Loyal 43.9 3.20 18.0 0.31 3.51

Magnum 2000 48.0 2.59 21.7 0.23 2.81

Mammoth 53.3 3.19 16.8 0.19 3.38

Morton 42.5 3.01 20.3 0.51 3.51

ND001304 25.5 2.45 13.4 0.40 2.85

ND951394 42.0 2.53 19.6 0.29 2.82

ND960736 43.7 3.23 18.5 0.34 3.57

Paul 46.1 3.28 20.1 0.28 3.56

Sesqui 38.5 3.01 19.6 0.67 3.68

Triple Crown 47.0 3.34 17.0 0.26 3.59

Youngs 44.2 2.79 18.0 0.20 2.99

Mean 42.4 3.02 18.2 0.36 3.38

C.V.% 5.0 10.3 12.2 36.7 10.2

LSD.05 3.0 0.45 2.9 0.19 0.49

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2003 Brassica forage trial

Photo courtesy of Charlie White First Cut Second Cut Combined Total

Yield @ Yield Regrowth Yield @

Leaf

Yield

Root

Yield

Leaf

Yield

Root

Yield

Root

Yield

Variety Type 15% dry wt. Score 15% dry wt. dry wt. dry wt. dry wt. dry wt.

ton/ac ton/ac 1-9 ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac

Barkant Turnip 1.75 1.49 4 0.25 0.21 0.17 1.70 0.17 1.87

Barnapoli Rape 2.23 1.89 0.5 . . . 1.89 . 1.89

Dwarf Essex Rape 1.62 1.38 2 . . . 1.62 . 1.62

Green Globe Turnip 1.86 1.58 6 0.68 0.58 0.35 2.28 0.35 2.63

Purple Top Turnip 1.96 1.67 9 0.76 0.65 1.02 2.32 1.02 3.04

Rangiora Rape 1.67 1.42 0.5 . . . 1.42 . 1.42

York Globe Turnip 1.60 1.36 7 0.74 0.63 1.23 1.99 1.23 3.22

Mean 1.81 1.54 4.1 0.61 0.52 0.69

C.V.% 24.3 24.3 29.2 24.9 24.9 24.6

LSD.05 NS NS 1.8 0.3 0.26 0.34

Planting Date, May 13

Previous Crop, Spring wheat

Harvest Dates, Harvest 1=August 6 Harvest 2=October 6

Regrowth score 0=no regrowth, 1= worst, 9= best

Flea beetle pressure was severe from emergence on, no insecticides were used

Comparison ranking of brassicas planted (order of greatest tolerance to flea beetle):

Crambe-Mustard-Kale-Turnip-Rape

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2003 Forage oats under seeded

Harvest 1 Harvest 2 Harvest 3 Total

Yield @ Yield Yield @ Yield Yield @ Yield Yield @ Yield

Forage Treatment 15% Dry Wt. 15% Dry Wt. 15% Dry Wt. 15% Dry Wt.

ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac ton/ac

Paul 2.89 2.46 0.62 0.53 . . 3.51 2.99

Paul/Barkant 2.70 2.30 1.11 0.95 0.89 0.75 4.70 4.00

Paul/Barnapoli 2.94 2.50 0.96 0.81 . . 3.90 3.31

Paul/Bernina 2.89 2.45 0.84 0.71 . . 3.73 3.16

Paul/Berninova 2.93 2.49 1.07 0.91 . . 4.00 3.40

Paul/Dwarf Essex 2.94 2.50 0.75 0.64 0.68 0.58 4.37 3.72

Paul/Green Spirit 2.79 2.37 0.94 0.80 1.07 0.91 4.80 4.08

Paul/Puna 2.87 2.44 0.84 0.71 . . 3.71 3.15

Paul/Purple top 2.94 2.50 0.92 0.78 . . 3.86 3.28

Paul/W.Rye 3.00 2.55 0.86 0.73 0.88 0.74 4.74 4.02

Paul/W.Spelt 2.75 2.34 0.61 0.52 0.72 0.61 4.08 3.47

Paul/W.Triticale 2.99 2.54 0.96 0.82 0.62 0.52 4.57 3.88

Paul/W.Wheat 2.90 2.46 0.81 0.69 0.88 0.75 4.59 3.90

Mean 2.88 2.45 0.87 0.74 0.82 0.69 4.20 3.57

C.V.% 7.1 7.1 18.1 18.1 24.2 24.2

LSD.05 NS NS 0.23 0.19 0.35 0.30

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Field pea relay cover crops

2008

Field

Cover Crop

Biomass

(lb/ac)

Percent N

(%)

Total N

(lb/ac)

14B 3026 4.3 130

14A 1582 4.0 63

12 1877 3.7 69

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Field pea relay cover crops

2008-2009 Trial

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2010 USDA Cover crop trial

Photo courtesy of Charlie White

Cover crop above ground dry matter

(lb/ac)

Trt # Cover Crop treatment Type of cover crop October 4 2010 November 5 2010

1 Black lentil cool season legume 123 117

2 Oat cool season grass 430 340

3 Millet warm season grass 31 38

4 Cowpea warm season legume 18 17

5 radish cool season broadleaf 209 187

6 Mix 1 (Black lentil, Oat, Millet, Cowpea, Radish) diverse mixture 223 230

7 Mix 2 (Corn, Millet) warm season mixture 42 -

8 Mix 3 (Millet, Grain Sorghum) warm season mixture 32 -

9 Mix 4 (Black lentil, Flax, Cowpea, Rape, Chickling vetch) diverse mixture 211 -

10 Mix 5 (Black lentil, Flax, Cowpea, Chickling vetch) diverse mixture 188 -

11 No cover crop - - -

No/little gain in dry matter from October to November in 2010 - cold weather and one snowfall

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Interseed into

Row crops

Broadcast into Soybeans Drilled between corn rows

Photos courtesy of

Susan Muske

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Interseeding

Timing

– V5 corn

– Soybeans just prior to leaf drop

Method

– Drilled

– Broadcast

– Aerial seeding Photos courtesy of Susan Muske

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New project: “Precision” Cover crops

• Cover crops perform

across a toposequence

• Frequency of cover crops

• Collaborative project:

• SDSU

•Stutsman County SCD,

•Burleigh County SCD

Photo courtesy of Ron Wiederholt

Summit

Backslope

Toeslope Toposequence

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2010 Salinity Cover crop demonstration

Legumes Broadleaves Grasses

Perennial Annual Annual Annual

Warm Warm Cool Cool Warm Cool Warm

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1 X

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Growing our food, feed, fiber, fuel

2010 Salinity Cover crop demonstration