ABSTRACT
Information on the potential benefits of a winter cover crop to the following cotton crop is presently being collected. The objectives are to investigate reduced inputs from minimum tillage and the possibility of a gain in cotton yield by improving the condition of the soil. other management factors concerning planting cotton after a cover crop are being examined. This investigation is being performed on a Hebert silt loam soil. Cover crops are wheat, rye, vetch, and clover. Minimum tillage involves forming the seedbed 'for cotton without first preparing the soil by disking. Cover crops are terminated using one application of Roundup. Standard practices are followed for cotton production. Initial results from two years of this study have not shown any statistical differences between tillage practices. However, minimum tillage produced the lowest yield under both irrigation regimes. The cover crop treatments responded from highest to lowest lint yield in the order, no cover, clover, vetch, wheat and rye. No change has been measured in soil organic matter, but a numerical increase in soil nitrate-nitrogen has been observed for the nitrogen fixing vetch and clover cover crops.
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