Strip‐Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures Affects Biomass, Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio, and Spatial Distribution of Cover Crop Residue

Lowry, Carolyn J.; Brainard, Daniel C.

doi:10.2134/agronj2016.04.0189

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This resulted in greater mixing of the rye and vetch cover crops in the SEG treatments than anticipated. However, despite the cover crop lodging and potential residue mixing from flail mowing, segregating rye and vetch into strips lowered the C:N ratios of both shoot and root biomass (thus increasing the potential for N mineralization) within the crop row compared with the standard MIX spatial arrangement (Lowry and Brainard 2016). Finally, strip intercropping of rye and vetch resulted in marginally lower winter annual weed biomass within the BR when analyzed across both years but had no effect on weed biomass within the IR zone.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Detailed information on the effects of spatial arrangement on rye and vetch biomass is provided in Lowry and Brainard (2016). In brief, strip intercropping of rye–vetch mixtures increased vetch and decreased rye shoot biomass in the IR zone compared with the MIX in both 2012 and 2013, and marginally increased rye biomass within the BR (Table 3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Plot sizes were adjusted each year based on availability of organically certified land and size of available equipment. Larger plots were used for high weed management subplots to accommodate more frequent and intense sampling used for other questions associated with the study (Lowry 2015; Lowry and Brainard 2016, 2017b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strip Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures: Effects on Weed Growth and Competition in Strip-tilled Sweet Corn

Lowry

Brainard

2019

Weed Sci

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Strip-intercropping of functionally diverse cover crop mixtures including cereal rye (Secale cerealeL.) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosaRoth) is one mechanism by which nitrogen (N) banding can be applied to an organic, strip-tilled system to increase crop competitiveness over weeds. We hypothesized that by targeting hairy vetch, a low C:N legume, to the tilled strip directly in row with future crop establishment, and cereal rye, a high C:N grass, to the untilled strip directly between future crop rows, that N would be preferentially available to the crop. We conducted a field study between 2011 to 2013 in southwest Michigan to examine the effects of rye–vetch mixture spatial arrangement (strip intercropping vs. full-width mixture) on (1) soil inorganic N; (2) weed biomass; and (3) sweet corn (Zea maysL.) biomass, yield, and competitiveness against weeds. We found that as the proportion of vetch biomass in the crop row (in-row, IR) increased, we also saw increasing levels of IR soil inorganic N and greater early sweet corn N uptake and growth relative to weeds. However, sweet corn yield and final biomass were more responsive to vetch biomass across the whole plot (WP) and did not respond to rye and vetch segregation into strips. Increasing vetch WP biomass increased sweet corn final biomass across both years, but only increased corn competitiveness against weeds in 1 out of 2 years and decreased sweet corn competitiveness in the other year. Strip-intercropping of cereal rye and hairy vetch has potential to increase soil N availability to the crop, thereby increasing early crop competitiveness, which may lower weed management costs.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strip Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures: Effects on Weed Growth and Competition in Strip-tilled Sweet Corn

Lowry

Brainard

2019

Weed Sci

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“…Besides the lack of effect on corn grain yield, results previously reported by Almeida et al (2017aAlmeida et al ( , 2017b, as well as results of the present study, prove that the intercropping did not affect the partition and accumulation of biomass, N, P and K on corn. In some instances, the intercropping between two or more crops resulted in significant effects on the biomass yield and nutrients partitioning (Hu et al 2016, Lowry & Brainard 2016, but considerable biomass values are registered for both intercropping patterns. In the present study, a low biomass yield (170-1,020 kg ha -1 ) was achieved by Brachiaria species from planting at zero days after the corn harvesting (Table 1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of corn intercropped with Brachiaria species to nutrient cycling1

Oliveira

Almeida

Pierozan

et al. 2019

Pesqui. Agropecu. Trop.

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The corn biomass and nutrient dynamics may be altered when it is intercropped with Brachiaria (syn. Urochloa spp.). The present study aimed to investigate the dynamics of biomass, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) for farming systems that produce corn intercropped with Brachiaria species. Field experiments were performed during the season and off-season, in a split-plot design. The main plots were composed of Brachiaria species (B. brizantha,B. ruziziensis and B. Convert) intercropped with corn, in addition to corn monocropping. The subplots consisted of three forage sampling periods, ranging from 0 to 60 days after the corn harvest. The intercropping arrangements did not affect the corn grain yield, nutrient accumulation and partitioning, relatively to the corn monocropping. After the grain harvest, B. brizantha achieved the greater biomass accumulation rate in both the season (69 kg ha-1 day-1) and off-season (17 kg ha-1 day-1). The nutrient accumulation ranged widely between the Brachiaria species and planting seasons: 0.2-1.2 kg ha-1 day-1 for N; 0.01-0.07 kg ha-1 day-1 for P; and 0.13-0.8 kg ha-1 day-1 for K. However, the greatest nutrient accumulation was found for B. brizantha, followed by B. ruziziensis and then B. Convert. In the short-term, corn intercropped with Brachiaria in the season showed the largest effect on the nutrient cycling and biomass yield. The intercropping between corn and B. brizantha in the season was the best way to enhance the biomass yield and the N, P and K cycling.

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“…The highest yield benefit from species mixtures was expected to come to expression when species are mixed at closest proximity, provided balanced growth patterns (Lowry and Brainard, 2016;Musa et al, 2010). In our study, the closest proximity between species was obtained in the within-row configuration, whereas the two species were further apart in the alternate row design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On productivity, resource capture, and yield stability of cover crop species mixtures

Elhakeem¹

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Winter cover crops are grown in temperate regions to capture nitrogen, build organic matter in soil, and suppress weeds during autumn and winter. This thesis aimed to identify whether growing species mixtures instead of pure stands strengthens the ecosystem services provided by cover crops. Emphasis was given to productivity, resource capture and yield stability. From 2015 to 2019, I conducted fourteen field experiments across three locations in the Netherlands and one location in Germany.Twenty-five cover crop species were characterized as to their productivity to produce a shortlist of promising species for further studies. I found large differences in productivity between species. Species with early ground cover, such as crucifers and black oats, had the highest productivity and they showed the greatest suppression of weeds. An analysis was made of complementarity and dominance effects in mixtures. Complementarity occurred more often when the mixed species were equally productive, e.g. when combining oilseed radish and black oats, while mixing species with different productivity resulted more often in dominance of the highly productive species in the mixture. Mixing cover crop species within the row or in alternate rows had a small and variable effect on the competitive relationship between mixed species. Across all experiments, mixtures produced 25 to 42% more biomass and captured 11 to 34% more nitrogen than pure stands. This large difference was reduced when the comparison was restricted to the most productive pure stands and species mixtures. In this case, mixtures and pure stands produced similar biomass in most experiments, though, on average, mixtures captured 9% more nitrogen from soil than the best pure stands. In an analysis of data collected in multiple treatments at multiple sites and years, I analysed how the variability of yield differed between mixtures and pure stands. The contributions to yield variability were estimated as variance components using Bayesian mixed models. Yield variability was related to the variation in growing conditions as related to variation in soils and weather between sites and years. At this level there was no difference between mixtures and pure stands. Therefore, I conclude that mixtures do not provide insurance against variability in growing conditions. Within each combination of site and year (site-year), mixing species, however, significantly reduced the yield variability between treatments. This difference was mainly due to the low yield of some species when grown in pure stands, illustrating the importance of species choice. Moreover, mixtures had smaller within-field variation than pure stands. I investigated how biomass formation of cover crops can be separated in the processes of radiation interception and radiation use efficiency. Of the high yielding species, some intercepted large amounts of radiation (crucifers) and some had high radiation use efficiency (oats).Combining species with high radiation interception and high radiation use efficiency did, howev...

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Strip‐Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures Affects Biomass, Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio, and Spatial Distribution of Cover Crop Residue

Cited by 16 publications

References 52 publications

Strip Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures: Effects on Weed Growth and Competition in Strip-tilled Sweet Corn

Strip Intercropping of Rye–Vetch Mixtures: Effects on Weed Growth and Competition in Strip-tilled Sweet Corn

Contribution of corn intercropped with Brachiaria species to nutrient cycling1

On productivity, resource capture, and yield stability of cover crop species mixtures

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