Less Is More with Cereal Rye and No-Till Cotton

Researchers found that reducing cereal rye and cotton seeding rates could save cotton producers time and money while still maintaining the same production levels for no-till cotton. 

Like the name suggests, cover crops are used in farming to cover soil after a cash crop’s harvest season is over. For cash crops like cotton, the benefits of cover crops include decreased weeds, reduced soil erosion, and improved soil moisture during weather conditions like droughts or intense rainfalls. 

Cereal rye is the cover crop of choice for cotton producers in the southern United States, because the crop is easy to establish and is adaptable to different soils and climates.

Cereal rye, a popular cover crop. (Photo by Stephen Ausmus, ARS)

Although cereal rye benefits can improve soil health and profitability, cotton producers must spend time and money on seed and equipment to plant and maintain it. 

“Cotton producers are under pressure to reduce environmental impacts and maintain profit margins by adopting cover crops and no-till growing systems,” said Research Agricultural Engineers Ted Kornecki and Corey Kichler at the ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, AL.

 “One way to decrease the production cost is to reduce the seeding rates for cover crops and cotton.” 

To see if cotton producers can save time and resources without affecting cotton yield, Kornecki and Kichler conducted a three-year field experiment in Shorter, AL, to evaluate differences between seed quantity of both cereal rye and cotton for a no-till cotton production system. 

Cereal rye, a popular cover crop, is rolled down and becomes cover crop residue during a harvest.
(Photo by Corey Kichler, ARS)

The researchers compared cereal rye plant material, known as biomass, when planting either 100 kilograms or 50 kilograms of cereal rye seeds per hectare in the field. They found that the rye biomass produced at these rates was similar without influencing cotton yield. 

“When the cover crop is rolled down (injuring the plant without cutting the stem), the biomass residue remains on the soil surface throughout the cotton growing season to protect against soil erosion and runoff,” said Kornecki and Kichler. “Biomass residue also provides a physical barrier against weed emergence like mulch in a garden.” 

After seeing the results with fewer cereal rye seeds, Kornecki and Kichler also found that using fewer cotton seeds resulted in the same no-till cotton yield. 

In the same study, the researchers also evaluated the differences between cotton planting speeds, planter types, and cotton seeding rates. The study’s results showed:

• The planter type (mechanical versus electronic equipment) did not affect no-till cotton yield.
• The speed of planting cotton seeds did not affect no-till cotton yield.
• The cotton seed space uniformity (the distance between seeds in the row) did not affect no-till cotton yield. – by Jessica Ryan, ARS Office of Communications

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