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Cover crops and their role in improving soil conditions is an important consideration with many agricultural crops. Whether cover crops are worth the cost with white or red winter wheat has been the subject of early research funded by the Michigan Wheat Program.
At the beginning of its research agenda in 2012, the wheat check-off funded an investigation by Dr. Dean Baas, MSU extension educator in sustainable agriculture, to confirm and quantify the value of oilseed radish (OSR) interplanted with wheat. Many successful wheat farmers have long believed that OSR helps increase yields.
It is also believed that cover crops after wheat make a big contribution to soil health. Dr. Kim Cassida, MSU assistant professor and forage specialist for MSU Extension, did that research. Read on, to see what does and does not work in Michigan.
Note: MSU and the Michigan Wheat Program caution that three years of data should always be reviewed to get a more complete picture of research results. Farmers also must weigh input costs for fertilizer, fungicides and other inputs against the up-side of higher yields.
Research by Dr. Christy Sprague and Dean Bass
This research project was funded to develop recommendations for cover crops that follow wheat harvest, so that growers can avoid damage caused by residual common winter wheat herbicides. Spring herbicide treatments are commonly used to manage weeds in winter wheat, but there has been little to no information available on the tolerance of these cover crops seeded after harvest.
Sprague’s research took place in three locations across the state, comparing eight herbicides vs. control on nine different cover crops. The cover crops in these 81 research plots were evaluated for establishment of the cover crop 28 days after seeding, and injury caused by the herbicide treatments.
Cover crops evaluated were: Annual ryegrass, cereal rye, oats, red clover, crimson clover, dwarf essex rapeseed, oilseed radish, mustard and Austrian winter pea.
Click below to review the 2021 PowerPoint slides and the final report for the first year of this project.
The Michigan Wheat Program is a state-check off program voted in by the state’s wheat farmers to assess each bushel of wheat grown and sold. The funds from the program are utilized to further the wheat industry in the state benefitting the state’s nearly 8,000 wheat farmers who grow about 450,000 acres of wheat annually producing about a 40 million bushel crop.
