Evaluating cover crops forage nutritive value in Oklahoma winter wheat systems

Abstract Cereal rye, winter wheat, and winter triticale are commonly planted cover crops in corn and soybean systems and have the potential to provide early spring grazing. The three cover crops differ in growth pattern. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the grazing potential of the three species, including the timing of the start of grazing and nutritive value of forage as measured by growing calf gain. A 7.3 hectare field was divided into 9, 0.81-hectare paddocks. Three paddocks (n = 3 replicates per treatment) were randomly assigned to each treatment: variety not stated cereal rye, Pronghorn winter wheat, or NT11406 triticale. Pastures were seeded in Mid-September following early maturity soybean harvest and received no fertilizer. Fifty-four steers (305 kg SD ± 5 kg) were stratified by weight and assigned to one of nine groups which were then assigned to a paddock. The paddocks were split in half. Steers were turned out when forage reached a 12.7 cm height and rotated to the other half once the occupied half reached 5 cm. Grazing began April 3 for rye pastures and April 9 for triticale and wheat pastures. Two groups of cattle grazing rye were pulled April 29 due to limited forage. All remaining cattle were pulled May 8 to allow for soybean planting. Throughout the grazing period pre and post-graze biomass did not differ (P ≥ 0.36) among treatments. Average daily gain did not differ among treatments (P = 0.88) averaging 1.79, 1.86, 1.84 kg/day for rye, wheat and triticale, respectively. Likewise, gain per hectare did not differ (P = 0.80) among treatments with 378, 399, 394 kg/ha for rye, wheat, and triticale, respectively. Rye offered grazing a full week before triticale and wheat, but all three small grain cereal species resulted in desirable animal performance.

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New Technologies to Combat Herbicide Resistance

Outlooks on Pest Management ◽

10.1564/v30_apr_09 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 90-92

Author(s):

Rob Edwards

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Herbicide Resistance ◽

Cover Crops ◽

New Technologies ◽

Green Revolution ◽

Arable Land ◽

Limited Range ◽

Cultural Control ◽

Arable Farming ◽

The Uk

Herbicide resistance in problem weeds is now a major threat to global food production, being particularly widespread in wild grasses affecting cereal crops. In the UK, black-grass (Alopecurus myosuroides) holds the title of number one agronomic problem in winter wheat, with the loss of production associated with herbicide resistance now estimated to cost the farming sector at least £0.5 billion p.a. Black-grass presents us with many of the characteristic traits of a problem weed; being highly competitive, genetically diverse and obligately out-crossing, with a growth habit that matches winter wheat. With the UK’s limited arable crop rotations and the reliance on the repeated use of a very limited range of selective herbicides we have been continuously performing a classic Darwinian selection for resistance traits in weeds that possess great genetic diversity and plasticity in their growth habits. The result has been inevitable; the steady rise of herbicide resistance across the UK, which now affects over 2.1 million hectares of some of our best arable land. Once the resistance genie is out of the bottle, it has proven difficult to prevent its establishment and spread. With the selective herbicide option being no longer effective, the options are to revert to cultural control; changing rotations and cover crops, manual rogueing of weeds, deep ploughing and chemical mulching with total herbicides such as glyphosate. While new precision weeding technologies are being developed, their cost and scalability in arable farming remains unproven. As an agricultural scientist who has spent a working lifetime researching selective weed control, we seem to be giving up on a technology that has been a foundation stone of the green revolution. For me it begs the question, are we really unable to use modern chemical and biological technology to counter resistance? I would argue the answer to that question is most patently no; solutions are around the corner if we choose to develop them.

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Evaluation of Soft Red Winter Wheat Forage Yield, Nutritive Value and Tetany Hazard as Influenced by Sampling Date and Nitrogen Fertilization

Journal of Applied Animal Research ◽

10.1080/09712119.2007.9706836 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Clayton R. Bailey ◽

Lathan B. Daniels ◽

Wayne K. Coblentz ◽

Elizabeth B. Kegley ◽

Levi J. McBeth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Nitrogen Fertilization ◽

Nutritive Value ◽

Forage Yield ◽

Soft Red Winter Wheat ◽

Red Winter Wheat

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Forage Yield and Nutritive Value of Hard Red and Hard White Winter Wheat

Agronomy Journal ◽

10.2134/agronj2009.0378 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 102 (2) ◽

pp. 759-773 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Johnathon D. Holman ◽

Curtis R. Thompson ◽

Ronald L. Hale ◽

Alan J. Schlegel

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Nutritive Value ◽

Forage Yield

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EFFECT OF COVER CROPS ON WINTER SURVIVAL, COMMON ROOT ROT, AND YIELD OF WINTER WHEAT

Canadian Journal of Plant Science ◽

10.4141/cjps62-042 ◽

1962 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 286-293 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. D. Smith ◽

J. S. Horricks ◽

J. E. Andrews

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Root Rot ◽

Cover Crop ◽

Ammonium Phosphate ◽

Winter Survival ◽

Common Root ◽

Common Root Rot

When four varieties of winter wheat (Yogo, Kharkov 22 M.C., Jones Fife, and Elgin) were sown into wheat, oat, or barley cover crops, the yields were lower than when they were sown on fallow. The yield of winter wheat sown into the different cover crops was highest in barley and lowest in wheat cover crop. When the growth of cover crops was abundant, the yield of winter wheat was reduced. Application of ammonium-phosphate-sulphate fertilizer (16-20-0) increased the yield of winter wheat and generally decreased the severity of common root rot. Winter survival was generally greater when winter wheat was sown into cover crops than when it was sown on fallow. Root rot was most severe in winter wheat sown into wheat cover and was progressively less severe when sown into fallow, barley, or oat cover. Neither blade-cultivating nor mowing the cover crop prior to seeding the winter wheat appreciably affected the yield.

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Temporal Change of Soil Carbon on a Long-Term Experimental Site with Variable Crop Rotations and Tillage Systems

Agronomy ◽

10.3390/agronomy10060840 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 840 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ahmed Laamrani ◽

Paul R. Voroney ◽

Aaron A. Berg ◽

Adam W. Gillespie ◽

Michael March ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Cover Crop ◽

Red Clover ◽

Conventional Tillage ◽

Crop Rotations ◽

Tillage Practices ◽

No Till

The impacts of tillage practices and crop rotations are fundamental factors influencing changes in the soil carbon, and thus the sustainability of agricultural systems. The objective of this study was to compare soil carbon status and temporal changes in topsoil from different 4 year rotations and tillage treatments (i.e., no-till and conventional tillage). Rotation systems were primarily corn and soy-based and included cereal and alfalfa phases along with red clover cover crops. In 2018, soil samples were collected from a silty-loam topsoil (0–15 cm) from the 36 year long-term experiment site in southern Ontario, Canada. Total carbon (TC) contents of each sample were determined in the laboratory using combustion methods and comparisons were made between treatments using current and archived samples (i.e., 20 year and 9 year change, respectively) for selected crop rotations. Overall, TC concentrations were significantly higher for no-till compared with conventional tillage practices, regardless of the crop rotations employed. With regard to crop rotation, the highest TC concentrations were recorded in corn–corn–oats–barley (CCOB) rotations with red clover cover crop in both cereal phases. TC contents were, in descending order, found in corn–corn–alfalfa–alfalfa (CCAA), corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW) with 1 year of seeded red clover, and corn–corn–corn–corn (CCCC). The lowest TC concentrations were observed in the corn–corn–soybean–soybean (CCSS) and corn–corn–oats–barley (CCOB) rotations without use of cover crops, and corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW). We found that (i) crop rotation varieties that include two consecutive years of soybean had consistently lower TC concentrations compared with the remaining rotations; (ii) TC for all the investigated plots (no-till and/or tilled) increased over the 9 year and 20 year period; (iii) the no-tilled CCOB rotation with 2 years of cover crop showed the highest increase of TC content over the 20 year change period time; and (iv) interestingly, the no-till continuous corn (CCCC) rotation had higher TC than the soybean–soybean–corn–corn (SSCC) and corn–corn–soybean–winter wheat (CCSW). We concluded that conservation tillage (i.e., no-till) and incorporation of a cover crop into crop rotations had a positive effect in the accumulation of TC topsoil concentrations and could be suitable management practices to promote soil fertility and sustainability in our agricultural soils.

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