Investigating the Effects of Grass-legume Winter Cover Crop Mixtures on Soil Nitrogen Supply in Rolling Agricultural Landscapes

Project Overview

GS19-213
Project Type: Graduate Student
Funds awarded in 2019: $16,447.00
Projected End Date: 08/31/2021
Grant Recipient: University of Kentucky
Region: Southern
State: Kentucky
Graduate Student:
Major Professor:
Hanna Poffenbarger
University of Kentucky

Information Products

Commodities

  • Agronomic: clovers, corn, rye

Practices

  • Crop Production: cover crops, nutrient management

    Proposal abstract:

    Sustainable cereal production systems rely on healthy soils and biologically based nitrogen. Previous research has shown that grass-legume cover crop mixtures can provide soil conservation benefits while also increasing the plant available nitrogen to a subsequent corn (Zea mays L.) crop. However, our understanding of the multifunctional benefits of cover crop mixtures is based largely on research conducted in uniform, plot-scale settings that are not representative of farmers' fields. Rolling-hill landscapes make up a large portion of farmland in the Southeastern United States and present a challenge for grain crop producers in the region because they possess areas of high soil fertility interspersed with regions of low fertility. We hypothesize that grass-legume cover crop mixtures will reduce this spatial variability. In particular, we hypothesize that a legume species will dominate, add more nitrogen, and release nitrogen more quickly in lower-fertility sloping positions, whereas grass species will dominate, scavenge nitrogen, and release it more slowly in higher-fertility summit and depressional positions. We propose to test these hypotheses using a field experiment at two on-farm locations and two research farm locations. We plan to measure the biomass, species composition, nitrogen fixation, and nitrogen release of grass/legume cover crop mixtures at different landscape positions. Knowledge about cover crop effects on soil nitrogen supply gained from this research will benefit farmers in the region and contribute to a more economically and ecologically sustainable attitude towards managing cropland in rolling hill landscapes.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    • Quantify the biomass production and species composition of cereal rye-crimson clover cover crop mixtures as compared to cereal rye monocultures and winter fallow at different landscape positions.
    • Quantify the amount of nitrogen taken up from the soil nitrogen pool and produced through symbiotic nitrogen fixation by a cereal rye-crimson clover winter cover crop mixture at different landscape positions.
    • Quantify the rates of decomposition of a cereal rye winter cover crop and a cereal rye-crimson clover winter cover crop mixture at different positions throughout the landscape under a corn cash crop.
    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.