Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2021
Abstract
Rotating cereal crops (e.g., wheat [Triticum aestivum L.] with a 10- to 21-mo summer fallow period [fallow]) is a common farming practice in dryland (rainfed) agricultural regions. Fallow is associated with several challenges including low precipitation storage efficiency, depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC), loss of soil fertility, little crop residue retention and soil erosion, and few control options for herbicide-resistant (HR) weeds. The inability to effectively control HR weeds poses a major challenge to maintaining soil and water conservation practices such as no-tillage, as some producers are considering tillage to control weeds. Cover crop (CC) integration into wheat-based production systems to replace portions of the fallow period provides an opportunity to increase SOC, improve soil fertility, suppress weeds, and increase profitability of dryland crop production, especially when CCs are used as forage. This forum paper used the North American Great Plains as a model region to review information on (a) challenges of dryland agriculture; (b) integrating CCs in dryland agriculture; (c) benefits, challenges, and limitations of CCs in dryland crop production; (d) management options for CC integration in dryland grain systems; and (e) recommendations for future research efforts.
Publication Title
Agronomy Journal
Volume
113
Issue
6
First Page
4590
Last Page
4604
DOI of Published Version
10.1002/agj2.20855
Recommended Citation
Obour AK, Simon LM, Holman JD, Carr PM, Schipanski M, Fonte S, Ghimire R, Nleya T, Blanco-Canqui H. Cover crops to improve soil health in the North American Great Plains. Agronomy Journal. 2021; 113: 4590–4604. https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20855
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.