Document Type

Article

Abstract

Inter-seeding red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) provides an alternative method toincorporate cover crops into continuous corn (Zea mays L.) in the Upper US Midwest. Red clover is a leguminous cover crop that can grow in low-radiation environments and is winter hardy. Systems with red clover have demonstrated improved corn yield and a fertilizer N equivalence but understanding these effects with inter-seeding war-rants further investigation. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of inter-seeding red clover on (i) plant-available N during and after red clover decomposition, (ii) optimum N rates for corn, and (iii) corn yields. The experimental design was a randomized, complete block-split plot design, with cover crop as the main plot factor (treatments with and without inter-seeded red clover) and N-rate as asplit-plot factor (N-rates between 0 and 315 kg-N ha−1 in 45 kg-N ha−1 intervals).Quadratic plateau response curves with a bootstrapping technique were used to deter-mine differences in optimum N rate among treatments. Corn yields were evaluated with or without red clover inter-seeded following the first inter-seeding year. Red clover accumulated biomass values of 50 kg ha−1 up to 300 kg ha−1 pre-termination when inter-seeded with corn at the V4–V5 growth stage without detriment to yield. Corn yield was improved with clover treatments in one of four site years tested, resulting in a (15–17 kg ha−1 ) lower N requirement that year. Overall, our results indicate that inter-seeding red clover into continuous corn did not provide an agronomically meaningful nitrogen fertilizer equivalence to the cropping system.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.70133

Rights

© 2025 The Author(s). Agronomy Journal published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Agronomy.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

APA Citation

Francis, H. R., Ma, T. F., Werle, R., Zegler, C. H., Smith, D. H., Soldat, D. J., Marin‐Spiotta, E., & Ruark, M. D. (2025). Nitrogen fertilizer equivalence of red clover when inter‐seeded into corn. Agronomy Journal, 117(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.70133

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