Impacts of Selected Summer Cover Crops on Wind Erosion Control - Authors: Bilgi Sarihan, Murali Darapuneni, Omololu John Idowu, Dave Dubois and Kulbhushan Grover.

Cover crops can have significant impacts on minimizing soil erosion by wind, which is common in the arid southwest. A study was conducted at NMSU Leyendecker Plant Science Center, Las Cruces, NM, to evaluate the impacts of selected summer cover crops on soil loss during wind erosion events. Four grass species [Japanese Millet (Echinochloa esculenta), Perl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum), Browntop Millet (Urochloa ramosa (L.) Nguyen) and Sorghum- Sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor x S. bicolor var. sudanese)], were planted as cover crops in randomized strips of 12 m by 3.4 m and replicated four times under two irrigation regimens (full irrigation and deficit irrigation [half the full irrigation]). The cover crops were planted in August 2017 and terminated in November 2017, and sediment traps (Big Spring Number Eight [BSNE]) were installed in the plots, to collect sediment samples transported by the wind. Cover crop growth parameters measured included the plant height, plant population and ground coverage percentage. Soil properties were also measured at the beginning and the end of the cover crop trials. Results show statistical significant effect of grasses on horizontal dust flux (HDF) of the treatment plots, but the irrigation regimen effect was not significant. Sorghum-Sudangrass has significantly lower HDF compared to the rest of the grasses while the HDF from the deficit irrigated plots were not significantly different from the fully irrigated plots. Sediments lost from the plots were also significantly higher from mid-September to mid-October compared to the period from mid- October to mid-November. This study indicate that Sorghum-Sudangrass was the best performer for wind erosion control due to its quick and aggressive growth habit, providing to a quicker ground cover, compared to the other grasses. Also, reducing cover crop irrigation by half, did not reduce the effectiveness of the grasses in controlling soil erosion.