Cover Crops

“Cover crops help suppress weed growth by making weeds smaller and weaker, although they may not reduce the total number of weeds. Fast-growing grass cover crops, such as cereal rye, provide better weed control than most mixed or broadleaf cover crops because they produce more biomass and form a thick mulch. Farmers should aim for a dense cover crop stand, use timely sowing and termination, and combine cover crops with herbicides or cultivation as part of an integrated weed management strategy for the best long-term results.”

“1. Tillage is key for hemp establishment, growth, and yield in organic systems. 2. Cover crop improved hemp and barley yields and soil health under conventional till. 3. Moderate nitrogen (N) fertilization increased hemp fiber/grain and barley yield with better quality. 4. Cover cropping with N management enhances organic hemp–barley production”

“Comparing cover-crop planting methods at three Nebraska sites showed earlier establishment drives biomass — guiding how Corn Belt growers fit cover crops into tight corn and soybean rotations.”

“Field trials identified broadcast seeding rates that establish cover crops earlier in Nebraska corn and soybean, boosting spring biomass and nitrogen capture.”

“The use of cover cropping, as one element in a continuous living cover approach, has the potential to protect water quality and promote soil health, but overall U.S. acreage in cover crops as well as adoption rates remain low.”

“The LTAR Integrated Common Experiment at Upper Mississippi River BasinPlatteville.”

“Cover crop management practices to promote soil health and climate adaptation: Grappling with varied success from farmer and researcher observations.”

“This study examined long-term cover crop management effects on soil health in semiarid drylands.”

“Cover crop effectiveness varies in cover crop-based rotational tillage organic soybean systems based on species and environment.”

“The use of cover crops for the maintenance and restoration of soil organic carbon and soil productivity of previously eroded soils were evaluated.”

“Changes in water-extractable organic carbon with cover crop planting under continuous corn silage production.”

“Availability of dissolved organic carbon drives differences in microbial nitrogencycling processes between two sites with cover crops interseeded into corn.”

“Gypsum, crop rotation, and cover crop impacts on soil organic carbon and biological dynamics in rainfed transitional no-till corn-soybean systems.”

“Crop rotations and poultry litter affect dynamic soil chemical properties and soil biota long term.”

“Cover crops proved effective at increasing soil nitrogen for organic potato production.”

“Deep soil inventories reveal that impacts of cover crops and compost on soil carbon sequestration differ in surface and subsurface soils.”

“This study compared weed control, crop yields, herbicide use, and economic performance of red clover and hairy vetch in a notill winter cereal–green manure–corn silage cropping sequence in central Pennsylvania.”

“Long-term nitrate loss along an agricultural intensity gradient in the Upper Midwest USA.”

“Crop residue removal may negatively affect soil mechanical properties, which are key components of soil quality. To evaluate potential long-term effects, we assessed the 10-yr impact of corn residue removal on surface soil mechanical characteristics.”

“The formation of hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico can be traced to agricultural watersheds in the Midwestern United States that are artificially drained in order to make the land suitable for agriculture.”

“The initial nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane costs of converting conservation reserve program grassland to row crops under notill vs. conventional tillage.”

“Tillage, Cover Crop and Crop Rotation Effects on Selected Soil Chemical Properties.”

“Use of Crop Rotations, Cover Crops and Green Manures for Disease Suppression in Potato Cropping Systems.”

“Long term influence of alternative corn cropping practices on soil health, yields and forage quality.”

“Long-term use of cover crops and no-till shift soil microbial community life strategies in agricultural soil.”

“Conservation agriculture increases the soil resilience and cotton yield stability in climate extremes of the southeast US.”

“Interseeded cover crops in widerow corn: An opportunity for northern cropping systems.”

“Conservation practices induce tradeoffs in soil function: observations from the northern Great Plains.”

“This paper investigates the practical utility of three different insolation data sources within the context of a satellite-based remote sensing framework for mapping evapotranspiration at high spatiotemporal resolution, in an application over the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta region in California.”

“We apply a multi-sensor satellite data fusion approach to study the response of forest ET to drought and disturbance over a 7-year period.”

“Are American black bears in an agricultural landscape being sustained by crops?.”

“This study investigates the potential benefits of using tectonite dust as a soil amendment in central Oregon.”

“Sheep grazing as a strategy to manage cover crops in Mediterranean vineyards: short-term effects on soil C, N and greenhouse gas emissions.”

“A long-term annual crop study in Five Points, California, shows that the combined use of no-tillage, surface residue retention, and cover crops improves soil health compared to conventional practices.”

“UC researchers have pioneered many ways of managing soil biology for pest management, including strategies such as soil solarization, steam treatment and anaerobic soil disinfestation.”

“Cover crops use in Midwestern US agriculture: perceived benefits and net returns.”

“We develop a new nested-grid simulation of mercury wet deposition over North America with a 1/2° latitude by 2/3° longitude horizontal resolution.”

“Integrated weed management with strategic tillage can maintain soil quality in continuous living cover systems.”

“Incentive programs promote cover crop adoption in the northeastern United States.”

“Integrating cover crops for nitrogen management in corn systems on Northeastern U.S. Dairies.”

“Investigating water use over the Choptank River Watershed using a multisatellite data fusion approach.”

“Cover crop composition in longterm notill soils in semiarid environments do not influence soil health measurements after one year.”

“Comparing cover crop research in farmer-led and researcher-led experiments in the Western Corn Belt.”

“Simulated impacts of winter rye cover crop on continuous corn yield and soil parameters.”

“Assessing how cover crops close the soil health gap in onfarm experiments.”

“Living cover crops have immediate impacts on soil microbial community structure and function.”

“Modeled impacts of cover crops and vegetative barriers on corn stover availability and soil quality.”

“Multivariate Analysis and Visualization of Soil Quality Data for NoTill Systems.”

“Cover crops are known to promote many aspects of soil and water quality, yet estimates find that in 2012 only 2.3% of the total agricultural lands in the Midwest were using cover crops.”

“This document synthesizes information about the warm season cover crop sunn hemp. The question-and-answer format addresses frequently asked questions for growers.”

“Delayed cover-crop termination and reduced herbicide inputs produce trade-offs in soybean phase of US Northeast forage-grain rotation.”

“Applying plant-based irrigation scheduling to assess water use efficiency of cotton following a high-biomass rye cover crop.”

“Transitioning from Conventional to Organic Farming Using Conservation Tillage.”

“Functionally diverse cover crops support ecological weed management in orchard cropping systems.”

“Soil Water Dynamics and Cotton Production Following Cover Crop Use in a Semi-Arid Ecoregion.”

“Tillage and liquid dairy manure effects on overland flow nutrient and sediment loss potential in an Upper Midwest corn silage-winter triticale cropping system.”

“Soil health indicators for predicting corn nitrogen requirement in longterm cover cropping.”

“Organic matter: a critical soil health indicator in agrosystems within the Cerrado of Bahia, Brazil and South Florida, USA.”

“The Kellogg Biological Station Longterm Agroecosystem Research site (KBS LTAR) joined the national LTAR network in 2015 to represent a northeast portion of the North Central Region, extending across 76,000 km 2 of southern Michigan and northern Indiana.”

“Degradation of tetracycline, sulfamethazine, and tylosin in soil from prairie strips and row crops in Iowa.”

“Landscape position influences perennial biomass and food crop performance in buffer areas.”

“Wheat cover can impose a corn yield penalty (−12.6% in 2018). N timing matters under wet springs: in 2019, delayed/sidedress N improved NUE and yield vs more at-plant N. MRTN tools should account for cereal cover crops via N credit/adjustment.”

“The study demonstrates the utility of the USDA-NRCS ecological site approach for defining dynamic soil property benchmarks and thresholds associated with management alternatives, and can guide other global soil health benchmarking efforts.”

“Soil stoichiometry, driven by plant chemical traits, appeared to be the strongest driver of priming. This shows that shifts in plant communities involving increases in N relative to P can cause carbon loss.”

“In humid regions such as the mid-Atlantic United States, growers may not observe differences in soil moisture or temperature between mechanical or chemical termination methods.”

“A field experiment was conducted in Cullman, AL, to evaluate the effects of three different rollers/crimpers on the termination of a winter cover crop, soil moisture, and yield of sweet corn in a no-till system.”

“Planting Date Impacts on Soil Water Management, Plant Growth, and Weeds in CoverCropBased NoTill Corn Production.”

“A three year on-farm conservation-tillage experiment was initiated in fall of 2008 at Randle Farm LLC, located in Auburn, AL.”

“Cover-Crop Roller–Crimper Contributes to Weed Management in No-Till Soybean.”

“Crop Residue Management Challenges: A Special Issue.”

“CT released more vetch N (recovery ~55–56% vs ~22–29% NT) and raised soil inorganic N, but yield depended on weather: NT benefited in a dry year (moisture), CT won in 1986. Manage for N–water tradeoffs.”

“Long-term soil C and N gains aren’t just “more inputs.” Residue quality + crop-sequence diversity matter: low C:N organic residues and more temporally diverse rotations increased soil C/N retention.”

“Oat and its mixture with other cover crops show promises to improve soil health and resilience in semi-arid systems”

“Cover cropping enhances microbial abundance, enzyme activity & C-N cycling in semi-arid systems”

“Rotations with a minimum duration of bare fallow periods and integration of cover crops contribute to structural soil properties.”

“This study provides insight into how land use centered on agroecological principles affords greater water resilience, at multiple scales.”

“Land use change from native grasslands to arable lands globally impacts soil ecosystem functions, including the storage of soil organic carb”

“Soil carbon sequestration potential and the identification of hotspots in the eastern Corn Belt of the United States.”

“High seeding rates and low soil nitrogen environments optimize weed suppression and crop yield in organic no-till planted soybean.”

“The LTAR Cropland Common Experiment in the Upper Chesapeake Bay aims to evaluate diverse crop rotations that minimize the need for imported feed, maximize year-round living cover, and reduce nutrient losses.”

“Regulatory watershed mitigation programs typically emphasize widespread adoption of best management practices to meet total maximum daily loads. However, the spatial resolution of the bay-level model used to determine these load reduction goals is so coarse that the regulatory plan cannot consider heterogeneity in local conditions, which affects BMP effectiveness.”

“Does potentially mineralizable nitrogen predict maize yield in newly cropped soil?.”

“Cover Crop and Fertility Effects on Escherichia coli Abundance in a Composted Poultry Litter-Amended Silt Loam Soil.”

“Livestock removal increases plant cover across a heterogeneous dryland landscape on the Colorado Plateau.”

“Assessing Daily Evapotranspiration Methodologies from One-Time-of-Day sUAS and EC Information in the GRAPEX Project.”

“Fall–winter cover crops promote soil health and weed control in the southeastern clayey soils.”

“Cover crop and biofuel crop effects on hydraulic properties for claypan soils.”

“Evaluation of single and mixed cover crop species in a sandy loam soil under corn production.”

“Winter cover cropping to improve soil health in semiarid, irrigated cropping systems of Central Oregon.”

“A weighted soil health index approach for refined assessment of soil health in cropping systems.”

“Agronomic assessment of cover cropping and tillage practices across environments.”

“Exploring Overwintered Cover Crops as a Soil Management Tool in Upper-Midwest High Tunnels.”

“A comparison of drill and broadcast planting methods for biomass production of two legume cover crops.”

“Legume Cover Crop Contributions to Ecological Nutrient Management in Upper Midwest Vegetable Systems.”

“Economic trade-offs: analysis of winter cover crop use in organic tomato high tunnel systems across multiple regions.”

“Synergy between compost and cover crops in a Mediterranean row crop system leads to increased subsoil carbon storage.”

“Cover crops and irrigation impacts on corn production and economic returns.”

“Cover crops and tillage effects on carbon–nitrogen pools: A lysimeter study.”

“Integrating satellite-based optical and synthetic aperture radar imagery to estimate winter cover crop biomass in cereal grasses.”

“Cover crop cultivars differ in root traits potentially impacting their selection for ecosystem services.”

“Cover crops and landscape positions mediate corn–soybean production in southern Illinois.”

“No Tillage Improved Soil Pore Space Indices under Cover Crop and Crop Rotation.”

“Application of UAV Multispectral Imaging to Monitor Soybean Growth with Yield Prediction through Machine Learning.”

“Cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop improves soil physico-chemical properties with no influence on soybean root growth parameters.”

“Shortrun net returns to a cereal rye cover crop mix in a midwest corn–soybean rotation.”

“A probabilistic assessment of winter cover crop impacts on regional crop yield and soil carbon.”

“Field experiments were conducted at three locations in Indiana to assess weed suppression by cereal rye and residual herbicide premixes in no-till corn.”

“Does grazing winter cereal rye in Iowa, USA, make it profitable?.”

“Prediction of Cereal Rye Cover Crop Biomass and Nutrient Accumulation using Multi-Temporal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Based Visible-Spectrum Vegetation Indices.”

“Evaluating efficacy of preemergence soybean herbicides using field treated soil in greenhouse bioassays.”

“This study investigated the effects of different cereal rye termination timings on weed control and corn performance in a two-pass herbicide program across 5 site-years in Arkansas, USA.”

“Cover crops and preemergence herbicides: An integrated approach for weed management in corn-soybean systems in the US Midwest.”

“Cover crop monocultures and mixtures affect soil health indicators and crop yield in the southeast United States.”

“Influence of Sunn Hemp Biomass Incorporation on Organic Strawberry Production.”

“The dynamics of soil nitrogen availability following soil incorporation of sunn hemp in organic strawberry production systems in Florida.”

“Sunn hemp and velvet bean intercropped with young carambola trees in a no-till tropical fruit orchard.”

“A field experiment was conducted to estimate the influence of a high biomass crimson clover cover crop and conservation tillage on the critical period of weed control in corn.”

“Weed management programs utilizing high biomass cereal rye cover crop in Wisconsin soybean production systems are increasing in popularity.”

“A 3-year experiment was initiated in Alabama to determine the effectiveness of a 4-stage roller/crimper in increasing termination rates for cereal rye compared to 2-stage and spiral rollers.”

“Alternative performance targets for integrating cover crops as a proactive herbicide-resistance management tool.”

“Potential of cover crop use and termination with a roller-crimper in a strip-till silage maize production system in the Central Valley of California.”

“Equipment Development for Small and Urban Conservation Farming Systems.”

“A field experiment was conducted at the National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, AL, USA, between the summers of 2015 and 2017 to determine the effectiveness of an experimental roller/crimper in mechanically terminating summer cover crops.”

“A three-year replicated field experiment was initiated in the fall of 2014 to determine the effects of recurring rolling by experimental rollers/crimpers in terminating a cereal rye cover crop in central Alabama and how multiple rolling affected soil strength.”

“Effectiveness of Cover Crop Termination Methods on No-Till Cantaloupe.”

“A no-till experiment was conducted in Auburn, AL U.S.A. to evaluate the effectiveness of an experimental two-stage roller/crimper in reoccurring rolling over the same area planted with a cereal rye-crimson clover cover crop mix and its influence on bush bean yield.”

“A two-year field trail was conducted to evaluate whether split N application affects nitrogen use efficiency of corn with and without a wheat cover crop.”

“Cover crop functional types differentially alter the content and composition of soil organic carbon in particulate and mineralassociated fractions.”

“Cover crop-based reduced tillage (CCBRT) systems can provide multiple benefits in cucurbit cropping systems, including potential to reduce spread of soil-borne pathogens, minimize erosion, and decrease weed pressure.”

“Black plastic tarps applied on the soil surface and removed at planting can help suppress weeds before planting and reduce farmers’ reliance on tillage.”

“Cover crops and reduced tillage did not alter soil chemistry in first 3 years.”

“Cover cropping and conservation tillage improve soil health in the southeastern United States.”

“Longterm impacts of drain spacing, crop management, and weather on nitrate leaching to subsurface drains.”

“Insufficient characterization of soil organic carbon dynamics in semi-arid climates contributes uncertainty to SOC sequestration estimates. This study estimated changes in SOC (0–30 cm depth) due to variations in manure management, tillage regime, winter cover crop, and crop rotation in southern Idaho (USA). Empirical data were used to drive the Denitrification Decomposition model in a “default” and calibrated capacity and forecast SOC levels until 2050.”

“Sugarbeet response to interactions between fallseeded cover crop and fertilizer nitrogen application time.”

“The effects of annual and perennial cover crops on Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) population dynamics.”

“A perennial living mulch system fosters a more diverse and balanced soil bacterial community.”

“Soil trace gas fluxes in living mulch and conventional agricultural systems.”

“Perennial Peanut as a Potential Living Mulch and Nitrogen Source for Citrus and Other Orchard Crops in Florida.”

“The effect of a white clover living mulch on nutrient cycling in a cotton production system in the Georgia Piedmont.”

“Relationships between Soil Tillage Systems, Nematode Communities and Weed Seed Predation.”

“White clover living mulch enhances soil health vs. annual cover crops.”

“Integrated crop-livestock systems can improve soil health and economic benefits in South Dakota.”

“Influence of cover crop, tillage, and crop rotation management on soil nutrients.”

“Critical review of the impact of cover crops on soil properties.”

“Do cover crops benefit soil microbiome? A meta-analysis of current research.”

“Weed Suppression”

“Socioeconomics of cover crop”