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New research investigates additional cover crop benefits

A new multi-state and multi-year research project is digging deeper into the benefits of cover crops.

Marta Moura Kohmann with the University of Wisconsin tells Brownfield rye cover crops were seeded this fall, and they will plant corn and alfalfa into those fields this spring. “The twist here is that a couple of the cover crops that we are testing are actually allelopathic cover crops, and what that means is that these cover crops produce chemicals that help prevent the growth of other plants around them.”

Kohmann says these natural chemicals created by the rye cover crop help control weeds, but there might be some unwanted impacts on corn and alfalfa germination, depending on when the rye is terminated.  Kohmann says the field trials will try several things. “We’re going to do planting green. We’re going to terminate cover crops before we plant, and in the alfalfa treatments, we’re also going to do a treatment where we’re going to harvest the cover crops for forage.”

Kohmann says the natural allelochemicals have been found in rye and some varieties of winter wheat, and it’s possible to breed plants that create more or less of the substances.