Cover Crops and Conservation Tillage for Soil Erosion Control on Cropland

Table of Contents

Benefits of Cover Crops

• Erosion control
• Reduce Surface Water Pollution
• Added organic matter
• Improved soil structure and tilth
• Fixing of atmospheric nitrogen
• Recycling of unused soil nitrogen
• Greater soil productivity
• Weed control

Planting a cover crop has numerous advantages. Cover crops:

• control erosion
• reduce surface water pollution
• add organic matter
• improve soil structure and tilth
• fix atmospheric nitrogen
• recycle unused soil nitrogen
• increase soil productivity
• help control weeds

Erosion control — Benefits of Cover Crops

Farmland is most susceptible to erosion when there is no vegetative ground cover or plant residue on the soil surface. A cover crop provides a vegetative cover during those periods when a crop is not present to cushion the force of falling raindrops, which otherwise would detach soil particles and make them prone to erosion. It also slows the rate of runoff, thus improving moisture infiltration into the soil. The goal is to reduce soil erosion to something less than 4-5 tons/A per year (see Figure 9-1). You'll notice that the soil loss was so little from corn planted into birdsfoot trefoil and crownvetch that it didn't register on the graph.