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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385833
Research Project: Sustainable Agricultural Systems for the Northern Great Plains

Location: Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory

Title: Impact of simulated drought and cover crop mixtures on subsequent spring wheat yield

Author
item Hendrickson, John
item Archer, David
item Halvorson, Jonathan
item Clemensen, Andrea
item Grusak, Michael

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/7/2021
Publication Date: 11/7/2021
Citation: Hendrickson, J.R., Archer, D.W., Halvorson, J.J., Clemensen, A.K., Grusak, M.A. 2021. Impact of simulated drought and cover crop mixtures on subsequent spring wheat yield. Meeting Abstract. 1.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cover crops have been promoted as a mechanism for reducing soil erosion, enhancing soil fertility, and improving diversity in agricultural systems but in warmer climates, there have been concerns about their impact on soil water availability for the subsequent crop. A study was initiated in Mandan, North Dakota, USA to evaluate the impact of two cover crop mixtures on subsequent spring wheat yield and grain nutritional quality using an automated rain out shelter. In spring 2015, two different cover crop mixtures and a spring wheat crop were seeded under the rain out shelter and received 75% of the normal growing season precipitation. The cover crop treatments were 1) triticale-forage pea mixture and 2) triticale, proso millet, forage radish and forage pea mixture. Cover crop mixtures were full-season cover crops and would winter-kill at the end of the growing season. In 2016, all plots were seeded to spring wheat and half of the plots received normal growing season precipitation and half of the plots received 75% of normal. In 2017, the whole area was seeded to spring wheat to normalize treatments and in 2018 and 2019, the same sequence was repeated with the same cover crop treatments followed by spring wheat. Wheat yields following cover crops were impacted by year and water treatment but not cover crop presence or complexity. Our data suggests cover crops can be grown in cooler northern semi-arid regions without negatively impacting subsequent wheat yield during a drought.