Conventional tillage continuously uses the same soil nutrients over and over until the “top” soil is worn out. Farmers must then increase fertilizer applications to make up for what is depleted in the soil.
Moreover, farmers wanting to break up the natural compaction that occurs with repeated years of tillage, will employ more powerful tractors and rippers to dig deeper into the profile.
No-Till and cover crops are becoming prevalent, even though the changeover from conventional tillage takes some new management practices.
Annual ryegrass is a popular cover crop because its roots penetrate through compacted soil and hardpan into deeper layers where nutrients and moisture are more plentiful. No need for the massively powerful tractors, excessive fuel costs and ripping ever deeper to break up compaction. Farmers are finding it easier and cheaper to use a cover crop to do the heavy work of breaking up compaction.
When corn and soybean crops follow annual ryegrass, there is an established network of channels formed by the annual ryegrass which new corn and soybean roots follow. Likewise, rainfall can more easily infiltrate the soil profile when there’s a network of new channels there, and no compaction to prevent its reaching deeper layers.
Tags: annual ryegrass as a cover crop, deep nutrients, deep rooting, infiltration, macropores, No-Till, No-Till corn and soybean, ryegrass cover crop, water infiltration
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