Creating sustainable forage-row cropping systems for the southeast with perennial red and white clover

Authors: Billman, Eric

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2022
Publication Date: 1/8/2023
Citation: Billman, E.D. 2023. Creating sustainable forage-row cropping systems for the southeast with perennial red and white clover. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary: .

Technical Abstract: Forage production in the southeastern United States is dominated by warm-season perennial or cool-season annual grass and legume species. Cotton, a crop unique to the Southeast region, is an input intensive crop that requires multiple field passes, fuel use, time spent, and labor costs incurred. Cool-season perennial forages may provide a way to create a hybrid forage-row cropping system for the region by providing a source of spring forage while acting as perennial groundcover between the rows of a cotton crop during the summer months to suppress weeds and reduce chemical and physical inputs in cotton. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of using perennial red and white clover as spring forage and summer groundcover in a cotton production system of the southeastern U.S. We hypothesized that a pure clover stand would result in significantly reduced weed pressure during the summer and not reduce cotton yields. By growing perennial red and white clover between the rows of a cotton crop, we observed reduced weed pressure (1 – 2 weeds per square foot) with clovers compared to fallow or annual cover crop systems (10 – 15 weeds per square foot). During both years of the test, red and white clover stands declined, with near total stand loss in year 2, likely due to drought stress. Cotton yields were not negatively affected by growing red and white clover with the cotton crop. These results suggest that red and white clover could be suitable for reducing input costs in southeast cotton production, provided that irrigation is available.