Cover crop effects on spring soil water content and the implications for cover crop management in south coastal British Columbia
Soil water content in the spring is an important factor in making decisions on cultural operations. A 2-year study was conducted to determine the effects of fall planted cover crops on spring soil water content dynamics and to relate the water content to cover crop management in terms of field trafficability. Each year, cover crops were planted at two planting dates in the fall, late August and late September on a loamy, mixed, mesic Humaquept on the Fraser River delta, south coastal British Columbia. Treatments were bare (control), wheat, rye and spring barley. Soil samples were collected at approximately bi-weekly intervals beginning in early spring to determine soil water content. Plant samples were also obtained late in the spring to determine C:N ratio. Treatments affected soil water content differently at each sampling date. No differences in soil water content at depths 20�40 and 40�60 cm were observed. Critical soil water content value for trafficability was determined to be 0.32 kg kg-1. Cover crops attained critical C:N ratio of 31.7:1 when the soil water was still above the critical value. The results suggest that terminating the cover crop growth in the spring could best be done by either mowing or spraying the cover crops as opposed to incorporation in order to minimize compaction since the critical C:N ratio for net mineralization is achieved when the soil is still too wet.
Soil-Plant Relationships
Soil-plant relationships , Soil-plant relationships , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی
Nitrogen Release from Grass and Legume Cover Crop Monocultures and Bicultures
The use of grass-legume bicultures grown as winter annual cover crops may provide farmers with additional cover crop management options regarding the availability of cover crop residue N. A 2-yr field experiment was conducted to determine dry matter (DM) accumulation, chemical composition, and N release from grass and legume cover crops grown in monoculture (rye, crimson clover, and hairy vetch) and biculture (rye-crimson clover and rye-hairy vetch). Air-dried plant material was placed on the soil surface in 1-mm mesh nylon bags for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 16 wk. Following retrieval, mesh bag contents were analyzed for total N, C, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin concentrations. The 2-yr mean cover crop DM production was in the order of rye-hairy vetch > hairy vetch > rye-crimson clover > rye > crimson clover. The greatest cover crop N content (2-yr mean) occurred with hairy vetch monoculture (154 kg N ha -1 ), compared with a low of 41 kg N ha -1 for the rye monoculture. When grown in biculture with rye, hairy vetch accumulated more DM and biomass N compared with crimson clover, both as a proportion of the biculture and as DM yield. In general, the order of N release rates (rapid to slow) was hairy vetch > crimson clover = rye-hairy vetch > rye-crimson clover = rye. Estimates of N (kg ha -1 ) released from cover crop residue after 8 wk of field decomposition, averaged over 2 yr, were 24 for rye, 60 for crimson clover, 132 for hairy vetch, 48 for rye-crimson clover, and 108 for rye-hairy vetch. Results of this study demonstrate only slight reductions in N release from grass-legume bicultures compared with legume monocultures.