RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Profitability of legume cover crops in the mid atlantic region
JF Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
FD Soil and Water Conservation Society
SP 582
OP 585
VO 49
IS 6
A1 Lichtenberg, Erik
A1 Hanson, James C.
A1 Decker, A. M.
A1 Clark, A. J.
YR 1994
UL http://www.jswconline.org/content/49/6/582.abstract
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.