GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska – Is your soil as healthy as it could be? That’s a question that farmers have asked themselves for decades. In the past, the answer would be to apply more fertilizer on crops to get the best yield possible. More recently, new practices focus more on determining what is happening under the ground to produce better yields.

The Central Platte Natural Resources District (CPNRD) has had success advancing soil health in demonstration plots by protecting soil with cover or residue, also known as soil armor with cover crops. Cover crops are plants that are grown in the period between harvested crops within a rotation. To show the benefits that cover crops have on soil health, CPNRD and the UNL Extension created a YouTube video titled Benefits of Cover Crop V4 at a demonstration plot in Merrick County, Nebraska; where different cover crops were interseeded into commercial corn at the V4 corn growth stage. 

Cover crops are successful because they create soil armor through a residue mulch layer that reduces or even eliminates soil erosion and weeds, decreases soil temperature and evaporative water loss, allows water to infiltrate improving drought tolerance, and increases soil organic matter. They also produce above ground biomass that is beneficial for livestock grazing, wildlife attraction, and pollinator and beneficial insects.

Many planting procedures have been tried in Nebraska as well as nationwide with establishment in commercial corn being one of the most challenging.  Demonstration plots were established to evaluate the successes of different cocktail mixes at a V4 stage of growth (knee high) in commercial corn.  This option broadens the window for establishment and growth.  

The goal of interseeding is to have the cover crop present after corn harvest to provide soil surface cover and a food source for various animals (e.g. livestock and pheasants). The video details what was planted, what species emerged, and how the cover crop survived the corn canopy. Cover crop experts featured in the film are Dean Krull, UNL/CPNRD; Rich Russell, Arrow Seed Co.; Keith Burns, Green Cover Seeds; and Noah Seim, producer and cover crop researcher.

View the Benefits of Cover Crops video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDMl8kbTmec&feature=youtu.be

For more information on cover crops, contact Dean Krull at (402) 469-0155 or email dkrull1 [at] unl.edu.