덮개작물과 토양의 건강

The NRCS’s National Soil Health and Sustainability Teamand Plant Materials Program are working together to improve our knowledge of using cover crop mixes to produce healthy soils.

Cover crops have the potential to provide multiple benefits in a cropping system. They prevent erosion, improve soil’s physical and biological properties, supply nutrients, suppress weeds, improve the availability of soil water, and break pest cycles along with various other benefits. The species of cover crop selected along with its management determine the benefits and returns.

Cover Crop Termination Guidelines

The termination guidelines provides information on termination of cover crops on non-irrigated cropland. They were created by NRCS, Risk Management Agency (RMA), Farm Service Agency (FSA), and other public and private stakeholders to address concerns about cover crops’ impact on crop insurance. Click here for termination guidelines.

In the News

Radish cover crops control weeds in wild seed production - Wild grass and flower seed growers can better control weeds by planting radishes as a cover crop prior to seeding, results of a trial at the Aberdeen Plant Materials Center show.

Cover Crop Plant Guides

The following plant guides describe the characteristics of some commonly used cover crops. They provide assistance in selecting appropriate cover crops, when and how to plant and when to terminate or incorporate the plant into the soil.

These documents require Acrobat Reader.

• Plant Guide for Cereal Rye (Secale cereale L.) (PDF; 122 KB) Rye is a 3-6 feet tall, cool season, annual grass. Uses include livestock forage, hay, wildlife food, cover crops, green manure, and weed suppression.
   
• Plant Guide for Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum) (PDF; 326 KB) Crimson clover is commonly used as a winter or summer annual cover crop in rotation with vegetables or field crops (Clark, 2007). It can be used alone or as part of a mixture with other legumes, small grains, and winter annual grasses.
   
• Plant Guide for Cowpea (Vigna unguicula) (PDF; 88 KB) Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) is an annual, summer cover crop that can be used for food, forage, hay, green manure, and wildlife.
   
• Plant Guide for Field Mustard (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) (PDF; 299 KB) Field mustard (Brassica rapa ssp. rapa) is an annual or biennial forb that is used as forage, cover crop, or biofumigant. There are also horticultural cultivars used as vegetable crops including turnip and rapini or broccoli raab.
   
• Plant Guide for Lablab (Lablab purpureus) (PDF; 306 KB) Lablab (Lablab purpureus)  is an annual, summer cover crop that can be used for food, forage, green manure, cover crops, and wildlife.
   
• Plant Guide for Oilseed Radish (Raphanus sativus) (PDF; 225 KB) Oilseed radish Raphanus sativus is a cultivated annual/biennial species in the mustard family used as a cover crop on croplands.
   
• Plant Guide for Pea, (Pisum sativum) (PDF; 335 KB) Peas are grown as green manures and cover crops because they grow quickly and contribute nitrogen to the soil (Ingels et al., 1994; Clark, 2007).
   
• Plant Guide for Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) (PDF; 506 KB) Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) is a perennial, summer cover crop that can be used for food, forage, green manure, and wildlife.
   
• Plant Guide for Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) (PDF; 1 MB) Sorghum is used as a drought tolerant, summer annual rotational cover crop either alone or seeded in a warm season cover crop mixture.
   
• Plant Guide for Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) (PDF; 199 KB) Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) is an annual, summer cover crop that can be used for forage, green manure, and wildlife.

Additional Resources

• Additional Plant Materials technical publications relating to cropland
• Cover crops improve soil health, help farmers weather drought
• Soil Health, Unlock the Secrets in the Soil
• Under Cover Farmer - This Youtube video produced for the NRCS East National Technology Support Center (ENTSC) showcases farmers experiences with cover crops.
• Plant Materials Soil Health Study Blog - *USDA Connect USDA Employee Blog
  *Only USDA authenticated users can access this content)
  Use the Soil Health community and its forums as your centralized place to discuss and obtain resources to promote Soil Health! The National Soil Health and Sustainability Team sponsors this community.
   
• Penn State Extension - 2013 Cover Crop Innovations Webinar Series - Penn State Extension is hosting a series of webinars during the winter of 2013 to focus on cover crop innovations.

If you encounter any problems with the files provided on this page, please contact the Plant Materials ProgramWebmaster at 520-292-2999 Ext. 112.