Environmental Benefits of Cover Crops

1. Environmental Benefits of Cover Crops Soil Erosion, Nutrient and Pesticide Reduction Bob Broz - Extension Water Quality Specialist205 Ag Engineering brozr@missouri.edu

2. Environmental Concerns Associated with Agriculture • Soil erosion • Nutrient runoff • Pesticide runoff • Loss of habitat • Other

3. Midwest Cover Crop Council • Cover crops are an effective tool to reduce soil erosion and increase nutrient recycling on farmlands, thereby also decreasing the soil and nutrient loads entering lakes and waterways.  Cover crops can have numerous other benefits including improvement of soil quality, pest management, fertility management, water availability, landscape diversification, and wildlife habitat. • http://www.mccc.msu.edu/

4. Defining Cover Crops and their Benefits to the environment • Cover crops are grown to protect and improve the soil, not to harvest. Cover crops have the potential to improve soil tilth, control erosion and weeds, and maintain soil organic matter. They can reduce compaction and increase water infiltration which decreases leaching of nutrients. Cover crops retain and recycle plant nutrients (especially nitrogen) between crops, provide habitat for beneficial microorganisms, and increase plant diversity.

5. How do we define cover Crops • Not just your grandfather's cover crops • Wheat • Clover • Rye • Crops that are: • Grown between cash crop cycles • Intercropped with cash crops to cover bare ground • Planted in the absence of normal crop • Grown primarily to add organic matter and nutrients

7. Selection of a cover crop depends on when it can be planted and the goal for its use. Legume cover crops fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants and microorganisms can use. Non-legume species recycle existing soil nitrogen and other nutrients and can reduce leaching losses. • Legumes Clovers, Hairy Vetch, Field Peas, Annual Medic Forage, Alfalfa, Soybean • Non-legumes Rye, Oats, Wheat, Oilseed Radish, Turnips, Sudangrass, Buckwheat • A combination of 2 or more types of cover crops may be beneficial for quick establishment and improved nutrient utilization.

8. Soil Erosion reduction • Provide a high percentage of ground coverage as quickly as possible • Produce more vegetative biomass than volunteer plants • Increase water infiltration • Decrease surface runoff • Decrease runoff velocity • Reduces soil aggregates from breaking down during rain events

9. So how do these things reduce soil erosion/sediment • Act as a physical barrier between rainfall and the soil surface reducing the breaking down of soil aggregates that leads to soil erosion • The cover reduces the rate and quantity of water draining off fields that would cause soil erosion • Cover crop root growth results in soil pores that allow for higher infiltration of water • others

10. Nutrient benefits of cover crops • Cover Crops can • Recycle farm nutrients such as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, etc • Accumulate minerals at high concentrations • Buckwheat, lupine and sweet clover extract P from soils • Alfalfa can translocate nutrients from subsoil to surface root zone • Decomposition of cover crop increases carbonic and other organic acids through microbial activity • Acids react with insoluble mineral rocks and release phosphates and exchangeable nutrients

11. Nutrient benefits of Cover Crops • Produces Nitrogen from legumes • Amount is based on variety of cover crop species • How managed (tilled in or left on top) • Increases soil microbial activity • Convert N to proteins and amino acids

13. Pesticide Use with Cover Crops • Can increase or decrease depending on what you are managing for • For Weeds: • Thick cover crop stands can prevent most germinated weed seeds from completing life cycle and reproducing (smother effect). • Rye residues had 80-95% early broadleaf weed control • Can break disease cycles and reduce populations of bacterial and fungal diseases • Increase number of beneficial insects • Some CC release allelochemical (natural toxins) to inhibit or slow growth of other plants

14. Pesticide Use and Cover Crops • Some CC reduce soil-borne pathogens - • Rye can reduce soybean cyst-nematodes • Some CC can be used as a trap crop for army worms, cutworms, etc. cc must be killed 3 to 4 weeks before planting • Some CC attract natural predators by providing elements of their habitat. • Increase organic matter that supports micro-organisms which can break down other pesticides. • Adds diversity to cropping system that can increase natural controls

15. Soil Carbon • Can increase carbon inputs into the soil through the residues • Grasses contribute more carbon than legumes due to higher C:N ratio • Average C:N ratios around 10-12:1 • At ratios of 20:1 N is released

16. Soil Quality • Cover Crops can: • Increase soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity • Deep rooted CC can increase subsoil water holding capacity • Bare soil holds 1.7 inches of water • Living cover crop holds 4.2 inches of soil water • Increase soil structure and stability • Alter soil temperatures • Other

17. Limitations • Management of cover crops is key to success • Cost of seed and application needs to be justified • Water consumption of cover crop growth may reduce soil moisture • May reduce soil temperature and cause slow growth in cooler regions • Does nutrient value exceed the cost of cover crop production • May harbor certain insects and disease that affect surrounding plants and vegetation • other

18. Economic considerations of Cover Crops • As the cost of fertilizer and herbicides continue to increase, the benefits of using cover crops in a sustainable farming system will become more attractive to modern farmers and producers.

19. Economic Considerations of Cover Crops • The economics of using cover crops can be calculated by savings of: • purchased nutrients • herbicides • versus the additional cost of using cover crops. • There are also other factors that are not easily credited to cover crop use, such as: • improved soil tilth, • enhancing soil biology, • improving organic matter content of the soil.

20. Effects on Soil and Water • Provide food for macro- and micro-organisms • Increases evapotranspiration • Increases water infiltration • Decreases soil bulk density • Reduces sediment production • Decreases impacts of raindrops, • Decreases runoff velocity • Increases soil quality through biological, chemical and physical soil properties

21. Effects on Soil and Water • Increase organic carbon, • Increases cation exchange capacity • Increases aggregate stability • May reduce nutrient and pesticide runoff by 50% • May reduce soil erosion by 90% • May reduce sediment loading by 75% • May reduce pathogen loading by 60% • Other

22. Questions????? • Bob Broz • 205 Ag Engineering • C0lumbia MO 65211 • 573-882-0085 • brozr@missouri.edu