Nitrogen Dynamics of Cover Crop Incorporation in New York State: Triticale As a Cover and Double Crop On a New York Dairy.

Cover crops are increasingly incorporated into crop rotations of dairy/cash grain farms to reduce erosion and nitrate leaching loss, increase soil organic matter content, and supply nitrogen (N) to corn (Zea mays L.) harvested for silage. Given costs of cover crop seed, planting, and termination, harvesting cover crops as double crops is advantageous for farmers; resulting in direct returns from feed, while still gaining benefits of soil conservation. A cover/double crop gaining popularity in New York (NY) is triticale (x Triticosecale). Triticale can be harvested in the spring prior to corn planting and be fed as high quality forage. However, little is known about yield potentials, N uptake and removal with harvest, and N dynamics after harvest of the triticale. A field trial was conducted to determine yield, forage quality, N uptake and C:N ratio of triticale (fall and spring, shoots and roots) seeded after corn silage harvest and harvested for forage. The triticale was planted on 9/10/2010 and 224,000 L/ha manure was applied at seeding. On 4/11/2011, 111 kg N/acre were applied as urea. The triticale accumulated little C or N during the fall (0.8 Mg DM/ha on 11/24/2011) but grew rapidly in spring, accumulating about 92 kg/ha N and 5.1 Mg/ha dry matter (DM) in above-ground biomass at harvest on 5/21/2011. Crude protein and NDF digestibility (30 h) averaged 13.2% and 57.7% of DM, respectively, with an overall quality comparable to legume-based hay. At harvest, the root C:N ratio was 32 with N accumulation of 6 kg N/ha. Triticale increased total season yield by 33%, without affecting yield of the corn planted after triticale harvest. These data suggest that triticale in rotation with corn silage can contribute significantly to feed supply and percent homegrown forage. Nitrogen rate studies are needed to determine optimum N management for triticale-corn rotation.