leach into groundwater after crop harvest in the fall, and depending on the species, can sequester atmospheric C Biculture legume–cereal cover cropping may enhance aboveand and/or N, thereby reducing the amount of N fertilizer belowground biomass yields and C and N contents. The increase in C and N supply to the soil has the potential to improve soil quality required for summer crops (Hargrove,...

There is increasing interest among growers in novel establishment systems for cover crops that can rehabilitate and protect soil. Cropping intensification has led to yield declines, compacted and poor quality soil, and increased pest problems. Cover crops in the Brassica (mustard) family offer benefits in soil conservation, improvement in soil quality, reduction in nitrate leaching, and suppres...

We used a survey of attendees of an organic farming conference in Minnesota, U.S.A., to determine whether farmers would be more likely to adopt a fall-seeded winter rye cover crop preceding soybeans if doing so could aid in the suppression of soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Homoptera: Aphididae). Of the 24 soybean growers that responded to our survey, 22 indicated that they would be mo...

Reducing tillage and growing cover crops, widely recommended practices for boosting soil health, have major impacts on soil communities. Surprisingly little is known about their impacts on soil microbial functional diversity, and especially so in irrigated Mediterranean ecosystems. In long-term experimental plots at the West Side Research and Extension Center in California's Central Valley, we ...

Wang, Q., Y. Li, Z. Handoo, and W. Klassen. 2007. Influence of cover crops on populations of soil nematodes. Nematropica 37:79-92. A pot experiment was carried out in south Florida to elucidate suppressive or antagonistic effects of several cover crops grown in rotation on soil nematode populations. The crops were two marigolds, Tagetes patula L. ‘Dwarf Double French Mix’ (MDF), and Tagetes pat...

Cover crop treatments and nitrogen (N) fertilization rates were investigated for their impact on sorghum grain quality attributes. Sorghum was planted in field plots treated with differing cover cropping systems and fertilization rates. The size (weight and diameter) and hardness of the kernels were influenced by both the cover crop and N rates. The protein content increased as the N rate incre...

Cover crops act as green manure adding organic matter to agricultural-soils. For legume green manures to be an effective nitrogen (N) source for organic farming systems, their N release must be in synchrony with crop N demand. The objectives of this study were 1) determine the decomposition rates of three common cover crops (white clover, (Trifolium repens,L) red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) ...