Cover Crops and No-Tillage for Soil Health and Productivity Across Indiana.

The use of cover crops and no-tillage is becoming more popular in Indiana to improve soils and cropping systems.  A project was begun on 15 sites in Indiana to evaluate the effects of cover crops and no-tillage on overall soil health.  Three of the sites are on Purdue University research farms and the other 12 sites are with farmer cooperators. This project is a collaboration of Indiana Conservation Partnership (ICP) staff, farmers, private and industry consultants, and researchers.  Farmer mentors participate in on-farm trials and in outreach to other farmers through regional workshops.  The treatments at the Purdue research sites include three or four blocks of no-till corn and soybean plots rotating each year.  The corn plots are divided into three cover crop treatments:  a no cover crop control, a mixture of oats and oilseed radish, and a mixture of oats, oilseed radish, crimson clover, and cereal rye.  The soybean plots are also divided into three treatments:  a no cover crop control, cereal rye, and the same mixture of oats, oilseed radish, crimson clover, and cereal rye as the corn plots.  On the farmer sites, there are usually three blocks of a control and a new treatment.  The control treatment has no cover crop and is either conventional till or no-till.  The new treatment will be no-till with cover crops.  Soils and crops will be measured over a three-year period to assess potential changes in the system with time.  The soil characteristics being tested are soil nitrate and ammonium in fall and spring, moisture content, temperature, penetration resistance, aggregation, bulk density, and several commercially available soil biological and soil health tests.  Other tests include cover crop biomass, SPAD units on corn tissues, corn stalk nitrate, and corn and soybean yield.  Preliminary data from the first season will be presented.