A Performance Evaluation of Three Cover Crop Species Interseeded into Continuous Corn Via High Clearance Drill and Broadcast Seeding Methods.

Cover crops offer opportunities to enhance soil quality and reduce the environmental impacts associated with soil and nutrient losses from corn and soybean systems in North America. While many farmers’  in coverhave expressed growing interest in cover crops, the narrow planting window for establishment after corn harvest often poses a practical barrier to wider adoption. Here we present preliminary findings from a field experiment that evaluates the performance of three individual cover crop species (annual ryegrass, red clover, radish) interseeded into continuous corn at V6 using a high clearance drill and via broadcast seeding methods. Relative to a continuous corn control (with no interseeded cover crop), no significant differences in mean grain yield were observed in response to the various cover crop treatments. However, 5 of the 6 interseeded cover crop treatments had marginally larger mean grain yields than the control. This suggests that the interseeded cover crops did not compete excessively with the corn. Both the high clearance drill and broadcast seeding treatments resulted in relatively uniform cover crop establishment. Cover crop biomass measured in the fall following grain harvest was significantly larger in the red clover and radish treatments than in the annual ryegrass treatments. Biomass, percent green cover and NDVI measured the following spring was significantly larger in the red clover as compared to the annual ryegrass treatment. The radish was entirely winterkilled as indicated by its very low average biomass, percent green cover, and NDVI values in the spring.