To graze or not to graze:

a cover crop dilemma

Ayush Joshi Gyawali

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
Texas A&M

Soil Survey and Land Resource Workshop 2020

February 7, 2020
Why should we care!!

Source: Patch.com
 Conservation agriculture and its potential

Reduced till

Yield benefits Environment

conservation Conservation Agriculture

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 Adoption of Conservation Agricultural Practices

• Perception that cover crops are costly

• In Texas,6.3% of total crop land was cover

cropped.
• 30 % of total crop land was under reduced till in
Texas.
 Potential way to increase cover crop adoption
• Opportunity for financial gain from cover crop

Cover crop herbage mass management

1) Cover crop residue in the field 2) Cover crop grazed using livestock 3) Cover crop harvested for hay
Source: cropwatch.unl.edu

Direct economic profit as forage for livestock

• Herbage mass removed

• Biomass retained • Nutrients cycled as animal waste • Herbage mass removed

Source: country-guide.ca

Source: civileats.com
 Soil health research gap
• Badri et. al (2009)
• Soil health benefits increases with • Root exudates can drive soil • Micallef et. al (2009)
increased cover crop biomass microbial processes • Bais et. al (2006)

Chaparro et. al (2012)

Finney et. al (2017)

• Can similar soil health benefits be achieved with living roots even without the herbage mass?
 Soil moisture and
soil nutrient research gap
Apprx 1/3 of
herbage
? biomass
returned as
animal waste
Schomberg et. al (2014)
Source: cropwatch.unl.edu
• Decrease in soil water in
cover crop plots
Nutrient returned

Basche et. al (2016)

• Can soil moisture at cash crop planting be improved with grazing or haying cover crops?
• What is the effect of grazing cover crops on soil nutrient status?
 Cover crop mixture research gap
Cover crop Multispecies Mixes for
Lower feed cost and soil improvement
Jerry Lindquist
• Increased yield MSU Extension
• Increased soil water content
• Increased soil inorganic nitrogen • Reduce weather risk
• Reduce toxicity/bloating
• More balanced diet

• Can cover crop mixtures provide more soil health benefits along with
improved forage nutritive value?
 Proposed Objectives
• To compare and quantify the impact of cover crop management and cover crop mixture on:
1) Soil health properties
2) Cash crop yield and quality

• To assess the impact of cover crop management and cover crop mixture on:
- soil water at cash crop planting and cash crop growing season
- nutrient dynamics

• To investigate the effect of cover crop mixtures on

forage quantity and nutritive value

• To quantify the economic benefits with grazing/haying cover crops in a mono-culture as

well as a cover crop mixture
 Tentative study location and design
Location
Cover crop management • Nested Design
•Sprayed/roller crimped Cover crop management
•Grazed nested within
•Chopped/Hayed/Harvested Cover crop species
•No cover

Cover crop species (Winter)

•Cover crop Sp. 1 (widely used in that location)
•Cover crop Sp. 2 (Cover crop mix)

• Summer cash crop – on all the treatments

• Georgia
• Florida • Selected Cover crop species as well as cash crop species will be
location specific
 Experimental Design

Grazed Grazed
Sprayed/ Sprayed/
Roller crimped Roller crimped
Hayed/ Hayed/
Harvested Harvested
No cover No cover

Cover crop Species 1 Cover crop Species 2

 Soil & Plant parameters
• Objective 1:
Soil health and crop yield
- Soil health parameters
recommended by NRCS
Physical parameters
Chemical parameters
Microbiological parameters
- Crop parameter
Cash crop yield
Cash crop quality
• Objective 2: • Objective 4
Soil moisture and nutrient Economic quantification
- Volumetric soil water content (0-10) cm- cash crop yield
- Soil macro nutrient - cover crop forage
• Objective 3
Forage
- Cover crop biomass
- Cover crop C:N ratio
- Cover crop nutritive value
 Expected Outcomes
Overarching goal: To increase the adoption of cover crops
Expected outcomes towards our goal:

•Better understanding of the soil health benefits that can be achieved with grazing or haying cover crops.

•An evaluation of these novel cover crop management practices to achieve better soil water
and nutrient status.

•Scientific information on cover crop mixtures and their ability to produce soil health as well as
forage nutritive value.

•Quantification of direct economic benefits from grazing/haying the cover crops.

•Dissemination of information using field days and Extension agents.

 Collaboration/Funding source
• Grant applications to be submitted
Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG)
Small scale grants

• Looking for collaborators

-To increase project locations and robustness of the study
Question/Suggestions??
Email: ayushg7@tamu.edu

Hmm…….lets eat
green cover crops!

Source: aliexpress.com