Abstract
Winter Cover Crops (WCC) into continuous agriculture in Uruguay could improve water erosion control, soil organic carbon, and crop productivity. On the other hand, could reduced soil water and nutrients interfering with cash crops. We conducted a four years field study on a clay loam (Typic Argiudol) in Uruguay to evaluate the effects of WCC on soil chemical properties, water content, soil N-nitrate with nitrogen variable rate at V6 on corn productivity. The six treatments consisted of Common Oat (Avena sativa L.), Annual Ryegrass (Lolium mutiflorum L.), Triticale (× Triticosecale wittmack), Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.), Pea (Pisum sativum L.), and no WCC. The highest corn yields were observed with no WCC (6.47 Mg ha-1), followed by legumes WCC (5.97 Mg ha-1) and grasses WCC (4.52 Mg ha-1). These differences were probably due to more soil water content at corn planting (35%) and soil NO3-N at corn planting and V6 (44 and 36%, respectively) in no WCC than overall WCC. The N yield response in V6 corn was highest in grass WCC (31%), followed by legume WCC (23%) and no WCC (7%). No soil organic carbon different were detected among treatments after four years with low risk of soil erosion. This result could be explained by similar carbon inputs (shoot and roots residue adding corn + cover crops) since the beginning of the experiment (averaged over treatments: 46.5 Mg ha-1). Farmers, who adopt use of WCC, could take disadvantage on low corn yield, therefore could increase cost by adding more N in corn.
Highlights
Winter cover crops (WCC) have an important role in N management and soil erosion control especially in regions that have high levels of winter precipitation [1]
Due to interaction among WCC and years, the biomass production and soil water available data is presented by year (Table 1)
Our results indicated that the WCC depleted available soil water at corn planting (-35%) compared to without
Summary
Winter cover crops (WCC) have an important role in N management and soil erosion control especially in regions that have high levels of winter precipitation [1]. Grass WCC following corn in a no-till system reduced spring NO –N accumulation in soil due to N uptake by the cover crops generated by short-term N immobilization because of their high C/N ratio that affect the growth and yield of the following crop [6,9,10]. Biomass production of annual ryegrass (Loliunm multiflorum) for Uruguayan conditions has shown a high variation (2-8 Mg ha-1) depending on the winter and spring weather condition [11, 12]. Depending on biomass production produced by the cover crops, these could affect N dynamics and cash crops response. Winter cover crop residues can affect soil water dynamics by reducing runoff, increasing infiltration, and reducing evaporation, all of which may benefit crop yield [13]. Studies have shown that during dry spring, Oswaldo Ernst , Mario Pérez Bidegain, José Terra, Mónica Barbazán
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