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Cover Crops for Sweet Corn Production in a Short‐Season Environment
Author(s) -
Griffin Tim,
Liebman Matt,
Jemison John
Publication year - 2000
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/agronj2000.921144x
Subject(s) - vicia villosa , agronomy , secale , cover crop , legume , hordeum vulgare , loam , fertilizer , green manure , crop , crop rotation , red clover , biology , poaceae , soil water , ecology
Legume cover crops can supply all or most of the N required by a subsequent crop if legume biomass is of sufficient quantity and N mineralization is approximately synchronous with crop demand. Three 2‐yr crop rotation cycles were conducted on a Lamoine silt loam (fine, illitic, nonacid, frigid Aeric Epiaquept) soil in Maine to (i) evaluate biomass and N accumulation of alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.), winter rye ( Secale cereale L.), and hairy vetch ( Vicia villosa Roth subsp. villosa ) plus winter rye cover crops; (ii) determine sweet corn ( Zea mays L.) response to legume and fertilizer N sources in a barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.)–sweet corn rotation; and (iii) assess the accuracy of the presidedress soil nitrate test (PSNT) and leaf chlorophyll N test (LCNT) for distinguishing N‐responsive and nonresponsive sweet corn. Both legumes accumulated more N than rye grown alone, although total biomass was similar. Sweet corn following rye always exhibited a linear response to N fertilizer (up to 156 kg N ha −1 ), but generally exhibited no response to added N following either alfalfa or hairy vetch plus winter rye (VR). Both PSNT and LCNT were 75% accurate in identifying plots responsive to additional fertilizer N. The legume cover crops grown were able to replace all or nearly all of the N fertilizer required by a subsequent sweet corn crop, with fertilizer replacement values (FRVs) of 58 to 156 kg N ha −1 in a short‐season environment. These cover crops are a viable alternative source of N, greatly reducing or eliminating the need for N fertilizer.