PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lichtenberg, Erik
AU  - Hanson, James C.
AU  - Decker, A. M.
AU  - Clark, A. J.
TI  - Profitability of legume cover crops in the mid atlantic region
DP  - 1994 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
PG  - 582--585
VI  - 49
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.jswconline.org/content/49/6/582.short
4100  - http://www.jswconline.org/content/49/6/582.full
AB  - Data from agronomic field trials in Maryland were used to construct nitrogen response functions for no-till corn following four cover crops and winter fallow. The estimated nitrogen response functions were used to estimate profit-maximizing nitrogen application rates and maximum profit under each treatment. Hairy vetch proved more profitable than crimson clover, Austrian peas, wheat, or fallow under a wide range of prices for corn, nitrogen and vetch seed and of herbicide costs. A hairy vetch-corn rotation exhibited small savings in nitrogen relative to wheat-corn or fallow-corn rotations at profit-maximizing application rates, perhaps because vetch improves nitrogen uptake and thus increases the marginal productivity of nitrogen.