The NC State Extension Conservation Agronomy Program has launched a video series titled the “Whiteboard Series.” The series breaks down the findings and recommendations of NC State research relating to cover crops and other conservation practices.
The first edition of the series examines a study conducted by former NC State Department of Crop and Soil Sciences student Hannah Massengill for her master's thesis, ‘Optimizing Cover Crop Management to Reduce Troublesome Pests for Soybean Production in North Carolina.’ The study was done with the support of her advisors, Dr. Rachel Vann and Dr. Dominic Reisig. It investigates how termination timing impacts cereal rye biomass.
Cereal rye remains one of the most popular cover crops across the U.S. and in North Carolina. A common recommendation for improving biomass is to delay terminating the cereal rye as late as possible to allow for additional spring growth. However, the study found that delaying termination had no impact on biomass for five (5) of eight (8) experiments conducted. In other words, the recommendation for delaying termination to increase biomass only worked 37.5 percent of the time.
Below is a video of the first edition of the 'Whiteboard Series’ produced by our extension associate, Austin Menker.
