2017 SWCS Annual Conference July 30-August 2, 2017 Monona Terrace Convention Center

1. Does Aerial Interseeded Cover Crop
Ameliorate Corn Residue Harvest
Impacts on Soils?
•Humberto Blanco and Charles S. Wortmann, Department of
Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE
• Gary Kreikemeier, Mid Plains Cattle Company, Shelby, NE

3. Corn residue baling for livestock production

4. Planting cover crops to offset potential adverse
effects of crop residue removal at high rates

6. • Aerial interseeding of winter rye cover crops (60 lb/ac)
for 3 yr starting in 2013 before corn harvest.
• Farmer’s field in east central Nebraska (just south
of the Platte River).
• The soil is silt loam.
• Irrigated no-till continuous corn (high moisture
corn).

9. Year
Residue Yield
(Mg ha-1
)
Residue Harvested
(Mg ha-1
)
Residue
Harvested (%)
2013 12.17 8.78 71.76
2014 12.27 9.28 75.91
2015 9.91 6.35 64.09
Mean 11.46 8.14 70.60
CORN RESIDUE PRODUCED AND
REMOVED

10. Rye cover crop biomass yield was highly
variable from year to year.
Cover crop biomass yield:
0.19 Mg ha-1
in 2014
0.72 Mg ha-1
in 2015
3.5 Mg ha-1
in 2016
COVER CROP BIOMASS
YIELD

11. • Wind erosion potential
• Soil compaction parameters
• Water infiltration
• Soil organic C
• Macronutrients and micronutrients
• Soil chemical properties
• Crop yields
MEASUREMENT
S

12. Treatments
Geometric mean
diameter of dry
aggregates (mm)
Wind erodible fraction
(%)
2014 2015 2016 2014 2015 2016
Across residue
harvest
Cover crop 1.77a 1.19a 1.52a 68.4a 73.3a 63.5a
No cover crop 1.65a 1.00a 1.41a 59.5a 80.0a 68.5a
Across cover
crop
Harvest 1.3a 0.65b 0.86b 76.2a 85.7a 76.2a
No harvest 3.0a 1.54a 2.08a 51.8a 67.7b 55.8b
WIND EROSION
POTENTIAL

13. ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Cover Crop Cover Crop
CornYield(Mgha-1)
2014
A ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Cover Crop Cover Crop
2015
B
ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Cover Crop Cover Crop
2016
C
ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Baling Baling
CornYield(Mgha-1)
D ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Baling Baling
E
ns
0
5
10
15
20
No Baling Baling
F
CORN
GRAIN
YIELD

14. 1. Harvesting 71% of the residue for 3 years
increased wind erosion potential.
2. Interseeded rye cover crop (CC) had limited or no
effects on soil properties.
3. Residue harvest and CC did not affect corn yields,
soil organic C, and soil fertility.
4. While interseeded rye CC did not significantly
improve soil properties, we expect that CC growth
itself could reduce wind erosion risks by covering
the soil and still allow sustainable corn residue
harvest.
SOME CONCLUSIONS

15. QUESTIONS?