Winter pea, crimson clover, and cereal rye
cover crop mix
The NRCS Plant Materials Program is evaluating cover crops used in conservation practices to support healthy soils and cropland sustainability efforts. The species of cover crop selected, along with its management, determine the benefits and returns in cropping systems.
Cover crops have the potential to provide multiple benefits in a cropping system. They can prevent soil and wind erosion, improve soil’s physical and biological properties, supply nutrients, suppress weeds, improve the availability of soil water, and break pest cycles along with various other benefits. The species of cover crop selected along with its management determine the benefits and returns.
The following plant guides describe the characteristics of some species commonly used as cover crops. They provide assistance in selecting appropriate cover crops, when and how to plant them and when to terminate or incorporate the plant into the soil.
Plant Guide for Barley (Hordeum vulgare) (PDF; 223 KB) Barley is annual cool season bunchgrass that grows 2–4 ft tall and is used as a cereal grain, forage, cover crop, for weed control, for temporary stabilization, and to add organic matter to soils.
Plant Guide for Browntop Millet (Urochloa ramose) (PDF; 167 KB) Browntop millet is an annual and sometimes perennial warm-season grass that grows to 3 ft tall and is used in forage/pasture management systems, as a cover crop or green manure, for critical area stabilization, and for wildlife.
Plant Guide for Cereal Rye (Secale cereale) (PDF; 122 KB) Rye is a 3-6 feet tall, cool season, annual grass used for livestock forage, hay, wildlife food, cover crops, green manure, and weed suppression.
Plant Guide for Cowpea (Vigna unguicula) (PDF; 88 KB) Cowpea is an annual, summer cover crop that can be used for food, forage, hay, green manure, and wildlife.
Plant Guide for Foxtail Millet (Setaria italica) (PDF; 146 KB) Foxtail millet is an annual warm-season grass that grows 2–5 ft tall and is used for forage, cover crop, green manure, temporary stabilization, and wildlife.
Plant Guide for Japanese Millet (Echinochloa esculenta) (PDF; 155 KB) Japanese millet is an annual warm-season grass reaching 2-4 feet tall that is grown primarily as forage and wildlife habitat and may be used as a cover crop or green manure.
Plant Guide for Lablab (Lablab purpureus) (PDF; 306 KB) Lablab is an annual, summer cover crop that can be used for food, forage, green manure, cover crops, and wildlife.
Plant Guide for Pea, (Pisum sativum) (PDF; 335 KB) Peas are grown as green manures and cover crops because they grow quickly and contribute nitrogen to the soil.
Plant Guide for Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) (PDF; 186 KB) Pearl millet is an annual warm-season crop reaching 4-8 feet tall that is widely grown throughout the United States for grazing, hay, cover crop, and wildlife.
Plant Guide for Sesame (Sesamum orientale) (PDF; 191 KB) Sesame is a summer annual broadleaf plant that grows 5–6 ft tall and is used as a cover crop or green manure crop.
Plant Guide for Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) (PDF; 1 MB) Sorghum is used as a drought tolerant, summer annual rotational cover crop either alone or seeded in a warm season cover crop mixture.
Plant Guide for White Lupine (Lupinus albus) (PDF; 298 KB) White lupine is a winter or early spring annual legume reaching heights up to 47 inches with a strong taproot that may reach up to 2 feet deep. It is used as a cover crop or green manure or as forage as long as low alkaloid selections are used.
National Study on the effects of cover crop seeding raters and diversity on soil health
Plant Materials Centers in California, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington conducted coordinated studies to evaluate the influence of cover crop seeding rates and plant diversity on soil health. The annual reports from this study allow us to follow what happens when equal treatments are planted at varied locations across the U.S. Final data analysis for this study is currently underway.
Cover Crops: Current and Future Directions - In this plenary discussion, Ramona Garner (USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Program) describes the efforts of the Plant Materials Center to identify and develop new and improved cover crops; germplasm identification and screening, and the role of the center in national cover crops and soil health projects. This session was part of Cover Crops for Soil Health, a three-day professional development workshop hosted by Northeast SARE and Delaware State University in March 2016. View on YouTube
The Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Lockeford Plant Materials Center conducts trials year-round to find plants and mixes that producers can successfully use to improve their soils. Lockeford PMC Manager Margaret Smither-Kopperl talked about the multiple benefits cover crops can have and how they are developing budget-friendly mixes for different producers. Agronomist Valerie Bullard showed results from a nationwide-wide trial that is looking at what varieties grow the best in specific regions and how some plants can source nitrogen for your soil. http://agnetwest.com/maximizing-cover-crop-benefits-growers/
