Abstract
We investigated the effects of an autumn sowing of contrasting cover crops (oats, rye and a combination of oats and rye) on soil aggregate stability, mycorrhizal colonization, phosphorus uptake and yield of sweet corn planted the following summer. Rye is a common cover crop in the middle Atlantic region of the United States of America. It grows slowly in the autumn, survives the winter, grows rapidly in the spring and flowers in the summer. Thus, herbicide is commonly used to kill rye prior to planting spring crops. Oats, in contrast, grows rapidly in the autumn but is killed by frost during the winter. Thus, with oats, potentially less herbicide is needed to prepare the field for spring planting. When compared to fallow, oats was as effective as rye in increasing mycorrhizal colonization of sweet corn, density of mycorrhizal hyphae, and soil aggregate stability. An oats cover crop may thus be a viable alternative to rye. The combination of cover crops (rye and oats), however, was significantly better than single species of cover crops in terms of sweet corn mycorrhizal colonization, P uptake and yield of sweet corn.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison L E 1965 Organic Carbon. In Methods of Soil Analysis. Ed C A Black, Agronomy 9, 1367–1389.
Angers D A and Mehuys G R 1993 Aggregate stability to water. In Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis. Ed. M R Carter. pp 651–657. Canadian Society of Soil Science. Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fl.
Barry D A J and Miller M H 1989 Phosphorus nutritional requirement of maize seedlings for maximum yield. Agron. J. 81, 95–99.
Boswell E P, Koide R T, Shumway D L and Addy H D 1998 Winter wheat cover cropping, VA mycorrhizal fungi and maize growth and yield. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 67, 55–65.
Camel S B, Reyes-Solis M G, Ferrera-Cerrato, Franson R L, Brown M S and Bethlanfalvay G J 1991 Growth of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal mycelium through bulk soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 55, 389–393.
De Boodt M, De Leenheer L and Kirkham D 1961 Soil aggregate stability indexes and crop yields. Soil Sci. 91, 138–146.
Finlay R and Söderström B 1992 Mycorrhiza and carbon flow to the soil. In Mycorrhizal Functioning. Ed M F Allen. pp 134–160. Chapman & Hill, New York.
France R C, Coleman M D and Cline M L 1984 Cover crops to increase inoculum in the field. In Proc. of the 6th North American Conference on Mycorrhizas, Ed R Molina. pp 92–94. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR.
Galvez L, Douds D D Jr., Wagoner P, Longnecker L R, Drinkwater L E and Janke R R 1995 An overwintering cover crop increases inoculum of VAM fungi in agricultural soil. Am. J. Altern. Agric. 10, 152–156.
Jensen W A 1962 Botanical Histochemistry. Freeman, San Francisco, CA. 408 p.
Kabir Z and Koide R T 2000 The effect of dandelion or a cover crop on mycorrhiza inoculum potential, soil aggregation and yield of maize. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 78, 167–174.
Kabir Z, O'Halloran I P and Hamel C 1997 Overwinter survival of arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae is favored by attachment to roots but diminished by disturbance. Mycorrhiza 7, 197–200.
Koide R T and Mooney H A 1987 Spatial variation in inoculum potential of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi caused by formation of gopher mounds. New Phytol. 107, 173–182.
Koide R T, Shumway D L and Mabon S A 1994 Mycorrhizal fungi and reproduction of field populations of Abutilon theophrasti Medic. (Malvaceae). New Phytol 126, 123–130.
Miller R M and Jastrow J D 1992 The role of mycorrhizal fungi in soil conservation. In Eds G J Bethlenfalvay and R G Linderman. pp 29–44. Mycorrhizae in Sustainable Agriculture, ASA Special Publication Number 54, Am. Soc. Agron., Madison, WI.
Munawar A, Blevins R L, Frye W W and Saul M R 1990 Tillage and cover crop management for soil water conservation. Agron. J. 82, 773–777.
Nehl D B, Allen S J and Brown J F 1998 Slow arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of field-grown cotton caused by environmental conditions in the soil. Mycorrhiza 8, 159–167.
Newman E I and Eason W R 1989 Cycling of nutrients from dying roots to living plants and the role of mycorrhizas. In Ecology of Arable Land-Perspectives and Challenges. Eds M Clarholm and L Bergström. pp 133–137. Kluwer Academic Publishers, London.
Shepherd M A and Webb J 1999 Effects of overwinter cover on nitrate loss and drainage from a sandy soil, consequences for water management. Soil Use Manage. 15, 109–116.
Smith S E and Read D J 1997 Mycorrhizal Symbiosis. Academic Press, London. 605 p.
Stanley M R, Koide R T and Shumway D L 1993 Mycorrhizal symbiosis increases growth, reproduction and recruitment of Abutilon theophrasti Medic. in the field. Oecologia 94, 30–35.
STSC, 1991 Statgraphics Statistical Graphics System Version 5.1. STSC, Rockville, MD.
Teasdale J R and Abdul-Baki A A 1998 Comparison of mixtures vs. monocultures of cover crops for fresh-market tomato production with and without herbicide. Hort. Sci. 33, 1163–1166.
Tisdall J M 1994 Possible role of soil microorganisms in aggregation in soils. In Eds A D Robson, L K Abbott and N Malajczuk. pp 115–121. Management of Mycorrhizas in Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Watanabe F S and Olsen S R 1965 Test of an ascorbic acid method for determining phosphorus in water and NaHCO3 extracts for soil. Soil Sci. Soc. Proc. 29, 677.
Wright S F and Upadhaya A 1996 Extraction of an abundant and unusual protein from soil and comparison with hyphal protein from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Soil Sci. 161, 575–586.
Wyland L J, Jackson L E, Chaney W E, Klousky K, Koike S T and Kimple B 1996 Winter cover crops in a vegetable cropping system, Impacts on nitrate leaching, soil water, crop yield, pests and management costs. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 59, 1–17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kabir, Z., Koide, R.T. Effect of autumn and winter mycorrhizal cover crops on soil properties, nutrient uptake and yield of sweet corn in Pennsylvania, USA. Plant and Soil 238, 205–215 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014408723664
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014408723664