Effects of Perennial Cover Crops on Corn Ear Attributes and Yields.

Presenter(s)

Madeline Wersal

Abstract or Description

Corn fuels the United States and a significant portion of the world, whether through feed, human or animal, or fuel, ethanol. However, current intensive corn production strategies/practices have led to negative environmental impacts such as soil erosion, poor water quality, and an increase risk of flooding. As a potential solution to mitigate these impacts, cover crops, planted between the corn rows, have been proposed. Benefits of cover crops include reduced soil erosion, pest and disease control, increase in crop diversity, and improved soil health. Current cover crop practices utilize annual species that must be replanted every growing season. Instead of using annual species, what if perennial ones were used instead? This would eliminate the need for annual replanting. 

Corn is a wind pollinated plant. Each kernel of corn must be pollinated. If less than 50% of the kernels are pollinated the plant will drop the ear prematurely. Also, if less than 50% of the kernels of the bottom two rows of the ear are pollinated then the plant will also prematurely drop the ear. In both these scenarios, the ears dropped lead to a reduction in yield. Ultimately, reduced yield leads to less money in the farmers' pockets. Will cover crops reduce corn yield?

To examine potential impacts of perennial cover crops on corn yields, three different perennial cover crop systems were sampled along with one conventional system. Yield data was obtained from each system and 48 ears were randomly sampled from each system. Each of these ears was weighed, percent pollination calculated, and number of kernels recorded. Using these three parameters, statistical analysis will be conducted to determine if there is a significant difference between yield and pollination in conventional and perennial cover crop systems. 

Mentor

Mrigranka De