Cover Crop Management Options for Dryland Crop Productions Systems in the Central Great Plains.

Adoption of cover crops (CC) is not widely popular in water-limited environments because CC utilize water that otherwise would be available to the subsequent cash crop. Harvesting CC for forage can help offset loss in revenue associated with decreases in wheat yield and increase profitability. This study examined CC management options in the fallow phase of wheat-sorghum-fallow crop rotation system. Treatments include grazing or haying CC, and growing CC solely for cover in place of fallow. Results showed decreasing the proportion of grass species in the CC mixture tends to reduce the amount of forage biomass produced. Forage crude protein concentration and digestibility were greater when peas were included in the mixture compared to mixtures with only grass species. Grazing CC increased soil bulk density near the soil surface compared to haying or cover. However, there were no differences in bulk density among the treatments beyond the top 5 cm of the soil profile. Plant available water measured at winter wheat planting within 90 cm of the soil profile in CC treatments was not significantly different from the fallow plots. Nonetheless, growing peas for grain did reduce plant available water compared to fallow. This finding is due to good summer rainfall after CC termination that recharged the soil profile. Grain yields of winter wheat after CC treatments were not different from that planted after fallow.