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Techniques for Managing Cover Crops

Techniques for Managing Cover Crops
Agriculture Related Info

Read the magazine story to find out more.

Rolling machines designed by ARS researchers may be the fastest way for farmers to prepare fields with cover crops for planting. Click the image for more information about it.

Researchers roll out the rye to reign in weeds   Conservation tillage has immediate benefits   Lower CO2 loss in fall tillage

Managing Cover Crops with Rolling and Crimping Techniques

By Laura McGinnis
September 3, 2008

Rolling hay, rye and other cover crops could be the fastest way for some farmers to prepare their fields for planting. That's thanks to rolling machines--developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists--that can quickly flatten mature, high-biomass cover crops such as rye.

Each roller consists of a long cylinder adorned with a series of thick, blunt, steel crimping bars, each about one-quarter-inch thick. As a standard tractor pulls the roller over the field, pressure from the bars flattens and damages the cover crop without cutting or uprooting it. Within three weeks, the rolled cover crop dries out, forming a mat of dead biomass into which farmers can plant cash crops.

Since 2001, ARS has been conducting research to find the best crimping roller design for conditions in the southeastern United States, and the benefits from this research are gaining recognition.

ARS scientists Ted Kornecki and Randy Raper and their colleagues at the agency's National Soil Dynamics Laboratory (NSDL) in Auburn, Ala., compared three different roller designs. The first roller has a traditional design with long, straight, horizontal bars. The second has diagonal bars that curve around the roller. The third has a smooth drum attached to a crimping bar that mashes the rye as the machine moves forward.

NSDL scientists, who developed the curved-bar and crimping roller designs, found that all three models killed enough rye--90 percent or more--to enable farmers to begin planting cash crops in the field within three weeks. The crimping-bar roller yielded the best results.

The scientists also found that the curved-bar and the crimping rollers provided smoother rides than the traditional straight-bar roller. Future studies will help scientists maximize the efficiency and comfort of these machines.

The one-pass process saves money, reduces soil erosion and runoff, helps control weeds, conserves water in the soil and decreases or eliminates the need for herbicides.

Read more about the research in the September 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Source: USDA Agricultural Research Service

Crops Cover Managing Techniques

Now that is a interesting way to add both insulation and chemical food to the new crops you want to plant. I think this can help the farmer from having to spray so much other stuff on the crops or field.