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Kura Clover Living Mulch for Furrow‐Irrigated Corn in the Intermountain West
Author(s) -
Pearson Calvin H.,
Brummer Joe E.,
Beahm Andrew T.,
Hansen Neil C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj13.0598
Subject(s) - agronomy , tillage , mulch , irrigation , biomass (ecology) , biology
Kura clover ( Trifolium ambiguum M. Bieb.) living mulches have been used successfully to produce corn ( Zea mays L.) in the upper Midwest. A study was conducted at Fruita, CO (39.1500° N, 108.7167° W), to evaluate corn production in a kura clover living mulch system under furrow irrigation. Living mulch treatments were: (i) no‐till, (ii) no‐till with a pre‐plant herbicide application, and (iii) strip‐tillage. Nitrogen fertilization rates of 0, 84, and 168 kg N ha −1 were applied to living mulch plots and 0, 168, and 336 kg N ha −1 were applied to conventional corn plots. Grain yield was responsive to N rate with highest yields in kura clover living mulch plots occurring at 168 kg N ha −1 (10.1 and 10.8 Mg ha −1 in 2007 and 2008, respectively). The strip‐till treatment performed best in 2007, yielding 11.7 Mg ha −1 at 168 kg N ha −1 , but did not differ from the no‐till with pre‐plant herbicide in 2008. Averaged across tillage treatments, kura clover biomass was highest (991 kg ha −1 ) when no N was applied and the difference in kura clover biomass was not significant between the 84 and 168 kg ha −1 N rates. There was no difference in kura clover production among suppression treatments (averaging 726 kg ha −1 ). Strip‐tillage at a 168 kg N ha −1 rate is a promising option for producing grain corn in a kura clover living mulch cropping system under furrow irrigation in the Intermountain West.