Mahama, G.Y. and Prasad, P.V.V. and Roozebooma, K.L. and et al, . (2016) Cover Crops, Fertilizer Nitrogen Rates, and Economic Return of Grain Sorghum. Agronomy Journal, 108 (1). pp. 1-16.
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Abstract
Leguminous cover crop systems have been envisaged as a critical component of sustainable agriculture because of their potential to increase soil productivity by cycling C and N in agricultural systems. Our objectives were to: (i) determine the effects of including summer cover crops and N rates in the cropping system on the growth and yield of the succeeding grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] crop, (ii) calculate the N fertilizer replacement value (NFRV) and evaluate economic returns, and (iii) determine the most cost-effective cropping system. Field experiments were conducted for two seasons in Kansas. Leguminous summer cover crops and double-cropped soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] residues improved soil N availability; N was subsequently used by the succeeding crop. Across years and cropping systems, the mean increases in grain yield as a result of including cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.], pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.], sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.), double-cropped soybean, and double-cropped grain sorghum in the rotation compared with a fallow system with 0 kg N ha–1 were 56, 62, 43, 32, and 3%, respectively, and NFRVs across the years were 53, 64, 36, 27, and –3 kg N ha–1, respectively. Across years, grain sorghum in a double-cropped soybean system and a fallow system with 90 kg N ha–1 gave profitable economic net returns. We conclude that including leguminous cover crops in a cropping system has the potential to reduce N requirements and improve the N availability and grain yield of the succeeding grain sorghum crop.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Grain Sorghum, Sustainable agriculture, Soil productivity, Soybean system, Cropping system |
| Author Affiliation: | Department of Agronomy, Kansas State Univ., 2004 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, Manhattan, KS 66506 |
| Subjects: | Plant Protection |
| Divisions: | Sorghum |
| Depositing User: | Mr B Krishnamurthy |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Nov 2016 10:43 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Nov 2016 10:43 |
| Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj15.0135 |
| URI: | http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/14549 |
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