Effect of Planting Date and Planting Method on the Establishment, Weed Suppression and Above-Ground Biomass on Winter Cover Crops in West Tennessee No-till Soybean and Corn Cropping Systems.

For many years, University of Tennessee AgResearch and Extension faculty, specialists, and extension agents have been conducting research and promoting the use of winter cover crops for Tennessee no-till cropping systems. However, typically less than 10 percent of the row crop acreage is put into winter cover crops. There are many potential reasons for the low levels of adoption by producers including the cost of cover crop establishment, methods to plant the cover crops and the need to harvest of some crops before a cover crop can be established. In 2013, cover crop research and demonstration sites were established in the Milan Research and Education Center in west Tennessee following a corn crop and a soybean crop. In the corn cropping system we investigated two different seeding methods (broadcast and drill) on the establishment and effectiveness of six of the cover crop mixes and an unseeded control. In the soybean cropping system we investigated the effect of planting date on the establishment and effectiveness of three of the cover crop mixes and an unseeded control. Measurements of cover crop establishment, weed suppression and biomass were made prior to terminating the crop before the 2014, planting season.