Comparing Methods of Establishing Corn in a Kura Clover Perennial Living Mulch.

As a perennial living mulch, kura clover protects water quality, prevents soil erosion, and promotes infiltration in Upper Midwest corn production. In this system, kura clover is suppressed in strips in the spring to prepare a seedbed and create a suitable environment for row-crop production. Strips have typically been created either with banded herbicide (NT) or strip tillage (ST).  We compared these two approaches with a new rotary zone tillage unit (RZT) to see which method would provide the best early season growing environment for corn. A fourth treatment was a dual tillage system that consisted of strip tillage followed by rotary zone tillage (DT). ZT and DT treatments led to faster corn emergence both years. Early season soil water potential was lowest in the band kill treatment, followed by the strip till treatment in 2015. Corn development was significantly slower in the strip till treatment than the others in both years. Corn yield in 2015 was significantly lower (p=0.05) in the strip till treatment (10.87 Mg ha-1 grain and 7.50 Mg ha-1 stover) and highest in the NT (12.27 Mg ha-1 grain and 8.64 Mg ha-1), but the differences between NT, RZT, and DT were not significant. Based on these results, rotary zone tillage is a promising suppression strategy for managing kura clover living mulch for corn production with minimal herbicide use.