Date Available

7-24-2018

Year of Publication

2018

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Document Type

Master's Thesis

College

Agriculture, Food and Environment

Department/School/Program

Plant and Soil Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Erin R. Haramoto

Abstract

Cover crops are typically sown between cash crops and can suppress weed emergence and growth. If cover crops are sown after cash crop harvest the system is left susceptible to weed emergence while they establish. Interseeding cover crops into a standing cash crop may limit this bare period by allowing cover crops to become established, go into dormancy, and then revive around cash crop senescence. Studies were conducted in Princeton and Lexington, KY, to determine (i) which corn pre-emergent herbicides and mixtures of herbicide active ingredients commonly used by Kentucky growers would impact interseeded cover crop density and biomass, (ii) which grass entries that are adapted to Kentucky would be best to interseed in corn, and (iii) if interseeded cover crops would suppress weeds similar to a cover crop planted after cash crop harvest. There were few reductions in interseeded cover crop density and biomass from the pre-emergent herbicides tested. Among the entries interseeded in four site-years, the tall fescue pre-cultivars generally performed the best but none were consistently able to survive the summer when interseeded into corn. Compared to a cereal rye cover crop seeded after corn harvest, interseeded cover crops produced less biomass and therefore suppressed fewer weeds.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2018.298

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