Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future

High clearance interseeding is an effective means of establishing several species in corn. Minnesotan producers are an interest in several species that have not yet been tested with this technology. In order to evaluate the usefulness of this technology, a 2 year-2 location screening of 15 cover crop options including untested species is being conducted by seeding cover crops into mature soybeans and corn? and terminating them prior to spring planting. Cover crop species include winter-terminating (turnip, radish, annual ryegrass, pea, crimson clover, and oat) and winter hardy (hairy vetch, cereal rye, crested wheatgrass, medium red clover, pennycress, and camelina) species, along with regionally popular mixtures (oat/ radish/ pea; cereal rye/ hairy vetch / medium red clover; and annual rye/ medium red clover/ forage radish). The impact of interseeding cover crops on nitrogen availability in the corn year was evaluated with an in situ nitrogen mineralization procedure throughout the growing season. This work will provide insights into the best practices for interseeding, as well as sequestering excess fall nitrogen and adding mineralized nitrogen to the corn phase of the rotation at a time when it is beneficial for the corn plant.