U.S. cereal rye winter cover crop growth database.

Winter cover crop performance metrics (i.e., vegetative biomass quantity and quality) affect ecosystem services provisions, but they vary widely due to differences in agronomic practices, soil properties, and climate.

Genome-wide association mapping in hairy vetch () discovers a large effect locus controlling seed dormancy.

Hairy vetch ( Roth), a winter-hardy annual legume, is a promising cover crop. To fully leverage its potential, seed production and field performance of must be improved to facilitate producer adoption. Two classic domestication traits, seed dormancy (hard seed) and dehiscence (pod shatter), are selection targets in an ongoing breeding program.

Data quantifying interseeded cover crops effects on soil water and corn productivity in corn-soybean-wheat no-till cropping systems.

The data described support the research article entitled "". Data were collected during the corn ( L.) phase from rotations with four different cover crop (CC) treatments.

Chemical differences in cover crop residue quality are maintained through litter decay.

As plant litter decomposes, its mass exponentially decreases until it reaches a non-zero asymptote. However, decomposition rates vary considerably among litter types as a function of their overall quality (i.e.

Cover crop termination options and application of remote sensing for evaluating termination efficiency.

Efficient termination of cover crops is an important component of cover crop management. Information on termination efficiency can help in devising management plans but estimating herbicide efficacy is a tedious task and potential remote sensing technologies and vegetative indices (VIs) have not been explored for this purpose. This study was designed to evaluate potential herbicide options for the termination of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.

Finding the right mix: a framework for selecting seeding rates for cover crop mixtures.

Cover crop mixtures have the potential to provide more ecosystem services than cover crop monocultures. However, seeding rates that are typically recommended (i.e.

Current outlook and future research needs for harvest weed seed control in North American cropping systems.

Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) comprises a set of tools and tactics that prevents the addition of weed seed to the soil seed bank, attenuating weed infestations and providing a method to combat the development and spread of herbicide-resistant weed populations. Initial HWSC research efforts in North America are summarized and, combined with the vast area of crops suitable for HWSC, clearly indicate strong potential for this technology. However, potential limitations exist that are not present in Australian cropping systems where HWSC was developed.

Pod Dehiscence in Hairy Vetch ( Roth).

Hairy vetch, (Roth), is a cover crop that does not exhibit a typical domestication syndrome. Pod dehiscence reduces seed yield and creates weed problems for subsequent crops. Breeding efforts aim to reduce pod dehiscence in hairy vetch.

Cover Crops Reduce Nitrate Leaching in Agroecosystems:A Global Meta-Analysis.

Cover crops are well recognized as a tool to reduce NO leaching from agroecosystems. However, their effectiveness varies from site to site and year to year depending on soil, cash and cover crop management, and climate. We conducted a meta-analysis using 238 observations from 28 studies (i) to assess the overall effect of cover crops on NO leaching and subsequent crop yields, and (ii) to examine how soil, cash and cover crop management, and climate impact the effect of non-leguminous cover crops on NO leaching.

Confronting herbicide resistance with cooperative management.

Background: Resistance of pathogens and pests to antibiotics and pesticides worldwide is rapidly reaching critical levels. The common-pool-resource nature of this problem (i.e.

Near-infrared spectroscopic models for analysis of winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) quality constituents.

Background: Winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) grows well in a wide geographic region, both as a forage and cover crop. Understanding the quality constituents of this crop is important for both end uses; however, analysis of quality constituents by conventional wet chemistry methods is laborious, slow and costly.

Characterization of soil nematode communities in three cropping systems through morphological and DNA metabarcoding approaches.

We used complementary morphological and DNA metabarcoding approaches to characterize soil nematode communities in three cropping systems, conventional till (CT), no-till (NT) and organic (ORG), from a long-term field experiment. We hypothesized that organic inputs to the ORG system would promote a more abundant nematode community, and that the NT system would show a more structured trophic system (higher Bongers MI) than CT due to decreased soil disturbance. The abundance of Tylenchidae and Cephalobidae both showed positive correlations to soil organic carbon and nitrogen, which were highest in the ORG system.

A Novel Approach to Estimating Nitrous Oxide Emissions during Wetting Events from Single-Timepoint Flux Measurements.

Precipitation and irrigation induce pulses of NO emissions in agricultural soils, but the magnitude, duration, and timing of these pulses remain uncertain. This uncertainty makes it difficult to accurately extrapolate emissions from unmeasured time periods between chamber sampling events. Therefore, we developed a modeling protocol to predict NO emissions from data collected daily for 7 d after wetting events.