In the last year, Penn State conducted tests on various nine cover crop species, including annual ryegrass, as well as eight mixtures. The tests took place on 374 plots through the state. Click here to see the power point presentation.
The advantages listed on annual ryegrass include:
low seed cost
vigorous root system
high forage quality (if needed)
The advantage [...]
Continue reading about Penn State’s Cover Crop Demonstrations - Annual Ryegrass Values
Mike Starkey, a forward-looking Indiana farmer, changed the way he feeds nitrogen to crops - injecting the fertilizer at the plant roots rather than broadcasting it. That boosted growth and saved money. But he realized by studying the runoff from his field tiles that most of the nitrogen leached from the field once the soybean [...]
Continue reading about Annual Ryegrass Boosts Production Because of Nitrogen Kick
Annual Ryegrass used as a cover crop adds organic matter in no-till operations. Why? The massive root structure left behind increases organic matter as it decays. Having something growing in the ground year-round allows earthworms and healthy bacteria to keep working, building nutrients, building carbon.
Each time the soil organic matter is improved by 1%, one [...]
Continuous No-Till and Cover Crops – Boosting Soil Organic Matter, Carbon, and Crop Yields
Since 1969, select farm plots at the University of Illinois have been in continuous no-till. In that time, the measure of organic matter has been boosted three-fold – from about 1 percent to 3.2 percent, without use of cover crops. In the [...]
The late harvest, combined with a wet fall, has made conventional tillage more difficult. Those risking tillage would probably add to compaction issues. But late harvest has also hampered planting cover crops this year. Here are a couple of things to consider, either for later this year or next summer.
1. Dormant seeding of annual ryegrass [...]
Continue reading about Wet Weather Reduces Tillage - Farmers Consider No-Till with Annual Ryegrass
Grand Lake St. Mary’s in Ohio not only serves recreational and agricultural uses, it’s also part of the drinking water for many western Ohio residents. The lake in recent decades has been degraded, in part due to agricultural runoff.
This week, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency [...]
Continue reading about Use of Cover Crops - including Annual Ryegrass - to Clean Up Ohio Lakes
