Aerially Seeding Winter Rye Into Standing Soybeans In Minnesota.

Cover crops during the off-season can effectively reduce nitrate losses from agricultural fields. Cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) is one of the few cover crops that can overwinter in the Upper Midwest and is an exceptional nitrate scavenger. However, drilling the seed after soybean harvest does not allow enough time for significant growth (and the corresponding benefits of a cover crop) before the ground freezes in Minnesota’s cold winters. Some evidence has shown that broadcasting seed into a standing crop early in the fall can result in earlier growth than drilling the seed after harvest, although results have been mixed. Current research has shown successful establishment in some fields while others seeded on similar soils on the same day completely fail to grow. This study aims to: 1). determine factors affecting the success of rye establishment and 2.) evaluate broadcast seeding methods.