444-1 Ecosystem Service Provisioning By Cover Crop Mixtures and Monocultures in an Organic Feed and Forage Cropping System.

See more from this Division: ASA Section: Land Management and Conservation
See more from this Session: Symposium--Can Cover Crop Mixtures Maximize Agro-Ecosystem Services?

Wednesday, November 9, 2016: 1:35 PM
Phoenix Convention Center North, Room 221 C

Charles Macaulay White1, Denise M Finney2, Ebony Murrell3, Barbara Baraibar Padro4, Jermaine Hinds5, Mitch C. Hunter1, Mary Barbercheck5, David A. Mortensen1 and Jason P. Kaye6, (1)Plant Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
(2)Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
(3)Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
(4)Plant Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
(5)Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
(6)Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Abstract:
Cover crops can provide different ecosystem services as a result of specific plant functional traits.  Combining different cover crop species with complementary functional traits could be one strategy to increase the provisioning of a diverse array of ecosystem services.  We will report the ecosystem services provided by different cover crop mixtures assembled from a candidate pool of 6 species (cereal rye, oats, forage radish, canola, red clover and Austrian winter pea) in comparison to each species grown in monoculture and a no cover crop control.  Cover crop treatments were planted between winter wheat and silage corn in three successive years of a full-entry organic cropping system experiment in Pennsylvania.  Ecosystem services measured in the experiment included cover crop biomass accrual, nitrogen retention, nitrogen supply, crop yields, weed suppression, and support for beneficial insect and native pollinator communities.

See more from this Division: ASA Section: Land Management and Conservation
See more from this Session: Symposium--Can Cover Crop Mixtures Maximize Agro-Ecosystem Services?

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