Managing Small Grain Cover Crops in Texas High Plains Cotton

Cover crops can reduce wind and sand damage to emerging cotton plants and improve soil health and quality.  On the Texas High Plains, questions remain regarding cover crop water use and its subsequent effect on cotton lint yield.  Studies were initiated in December 2016 and November 2017 at the AG-CARES location near Lamesa, Texas and the Texas AgriLife Research Farm near Halfway, Texas to evaluate management factors that could affect cover crop biomass production and effects on cotton yield compared to conventional tillage with no cover crop.  In these studies, the effects of winter cover crop species at two seeding rates and two termination dates on biomass production, cotton stand establishment, soil water content, and cotton lint yield was determined.  The no-till systems had two different cover crop species, rye (Secale cereale) and wheat (Triticum aestivum), and were compared with a conventional tillage system.  The cover crops were planted at two seeding rates, 30 lbs/acre and 60 lbs/acre, and each plot was split into two termination timings, an early, six to eight weeks prior to planting of cotton, and late, which was two weeks after the early termination.