To keep the system of direct seeding balanced, soil cover plants that develop rapidly and whose vegetal residues persist for an extended period are recommended. In this study, we evaluated the productivity of fresh and dry mass of soil cover plants and the remaining dry mass of plant residues. The study was conducted on a dystrophic Red Latosol [Oxisol] (Rhodic Ferralsol) with a sandy clay loam texture. A randomized block design was conducted with time split-plots with four replications. In the plots, the species of cover plants were allocated, and, in the subplots, the evaluation periods (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 days after desiccation). The evaluated species were pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum sin tiphoydes) cv. ADR 300; brachiaria grass ruziziensis (Urochloa ruziziensis), pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor); sunnhemp (Crotalarea juncea); finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L)); jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis). The dry mass productivity of cover crops and the rate of decomposition of plant residues were evaluated. Forage sorghum presented the highest dry matter yield of plant residues and, along with sunnhemp, presented the highest values of remaining dry mass of the vegetal residues after decomposition. Finger millet was not an adequate alternative for the direct seeding system in the study region.