TY - JOUR
T1 - Legume cover crops reduce poultry litter application requirements in organic systems
AU - Ackroyd, Victoria J.
AU - Cavigelli, Michel A.
AU - Spargo, John T.
AU - Davis, Brian
AU - Garst, Grace
AU - Mirsky, Steven B.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project would not have been possible without the cooperation of Bill and Suzanne Mason of Mason Heritage Farms and Aaron Cooper of Cutfresh Organics, LLC. We also thank Chris Rasmann, Ruth Mangum, Betty Marose, Victoria Lake, Gwendolyn Bagley, Jessica Kelly, Marie Raboin, Ted Currier, and George Meyers for help conducting field research. This research was supported by USDA NIFA Award 2009-51300-05597. Trade and company names are given for the reader’s benefit and do not imply endorsement or preferential treatment of any product by the author affiliations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The author(s).
PY - 2019/9/1
Y1 - 2019/9/1
N2 - Organic farmers are challenged by increasing soil P levels resulting from the use of manure to meet cash crop N needs. The use of a legume cover crop may address this challenge. In a 2-yr study at three organic production sites in Maryland, we examined the combination of a winter annual legume cover crop (hairy vetch, crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, and a no-cover control) at three poultry litter (PL) application rates (to meet the N requirement of corn, to replace P removed by corn grain harvest, and a no-PL control). Cover crop biomass varied by site and by year, ranging from about 600 to 6100 kg ha–1 for crimson clover. Cover crop N accumulation ranged from 15 to 169 kg N ha–1. Corn yields, which ranged from 2.9 to 14.2 Mg ha–1, tended to be lowest in the control (0 PL) no-cover treatments and similar in the N-based and P-based treatments irrespective of the cover crop species. These results indicate that when legume cover crops are used, PL can be applied at a P-replacement rate on sites with a history of PL application to meet crop production and environmental stewardship goals.
AB - Organic farmers are challenged by increasing soil P levels resulting from the use of manure to meet cash crop N needs. The use of a legume cover crop may address this challenge. In a 2-yr study at three organic production sites in Maryland, we examined the combination of a winter annual legume cover crop (hairy vetch, crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, and a no-cover control) at three poultry litter (PL) application rates (to meet the N requirement of corn, to replace P removed by corn grain harvest, and a no-PL control). Cover crop biomass varied by site and by year, ranging from about 600 to 6100 kg ha–1 for crimson clover. Cover crop N accumulation ranged from 15 to 169 kg N ha–1. Corn yields, which ranged from 2.9 to 14.2 Mg ha–1, tended to be lowest in the control (0 PL) no-cover treatments and similar in the N-based and P-based treatments irrespective of the cover crop species. These results indicate that when legume cover crops are used, PL can be applied at a P-replacement rate on sites with a history of PL application to meet crop production and environmental stewardship goals.
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U2 - 10.2134/agronj2018.09.0622
DO - 10.2134/agronj2018.09.0622
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85073476527
SN - 0002-1962
VL - 111
SP - 2361
EP - 2369
JO - Agronomy Journal
JF - Agronomy Journal
IS - 5
ER -