A decade of advances in cover crops

Excerpt

Cover crops have been defined as crops grown to protect the soil from erosion losses and losses of nutrients via leaching and runoff (Reeves 1994). This definition was expanded in the Encyclopedia of Soil Sciences to those crops that are grown for improving soil, air, and water conservation and quality; nutrient scavenging, cycling and management; increasing populations of beneficial insects in integrated pest management; and/or for short-term (e.g., over-winter) animal-cropping grazing systems (Delgado et al. 2006). A detailed review on the use of winter cover crops for weed suppression and integrated pest management was presented by Dabney et al. (2001).

Several researchers have reported the benefits of cover crops to reduce sediment off-site transport (Frye et al. 1985; Mutchler and McDowell 1990; Holderbaum et al. 1990; Bilbro 1991; Langdale et al. 1991; Decker et al. 1994; Dabney 1998; Delgado et al. 1999). Additionally, several studies have reported the impacts of cover crops increasing nutrient use efficiencies (Lal et al. 1991; Lal 1997; Reicosky and Forcella 1998; Staver and Brinsfield 1998; Delgado 1998; Groffman et al. 1987; Meisinger et al. 1991; Shipley et al. 1992). Our multidisci-plinary team studies found that cover crops can …