Penn State researchers, in a recent study, were surprised to learn that they could take the exact same number of seeds from the same plants, put them in agricultural fields across the Mid-Atlantic region and get profoundly different stands of cover crops a few months later.
Penn State researchers, in a recent study, were surprised to learn that they could take the exact same number of seeds from the same plants, put them in agricultural fields across the Mid-Atlantic region and get profoundly different stands of cover crops a few months later.
The study came to be known as “‘farm-tuning’ cover crop mixtures,” noted researcher Jason Kaye, professor of soil biogeochemistry, who added that the findings are significant because they show the need to customize cover crop mixes to achieve desired ecosystem services, depending on soil and climatic conditions.
Cover crop mixtures comprised of multiple species planted in rotation between cash crops provide a suite of benefits — such as erosion reduction, weed control, and adding carbon and nitrogen to the soil. But it turns out, the expression of species in a mixture can differ greatly across locations.
Read more at Penn State
Image: Lead researcher Barbara Baraibar, who was a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Plant Sciences when the study was conducted, collects cover crop samples. Researchers tracked a five-species cover crop mix planted over two growing seasons on eight organic dairy farms in Pennsylvania and New York and on research plots at Penn State’s Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. CREDIT: Jason Kaye Research Group, Penn State
