Living mulch in corn rows discussed in webinar

AMES — The Iowa Learning Farms’ June webinar featured Ken Moore, Iowa State University distinguished professor of agronomy.

Moore shared the results of an ongoing Iowa State evaluation of perennial-established cover crops maintained between rows of corn. These perennial living mulches save soil moisture, slow soil erosion and sequester carbon. Preliminary results are promising. In addition to the soil benefits, higher corn grain yields are reported with the living mulch treatments.

The archived version of the webinar, along with other ILF webinars, is available at: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ilf/Webinars/

Although the preliminary corn grain yield response has been positive, Moore is cautious. In an Iowa State press release from early 2012, Moore stated, “We recognize that it could be a brittle system. We’ve only tried it in one location, with one corn hybrid for four years. We don’t know how it is going to perform in the entire state with different soils and different growing conditions.”

Moore discussed the research project and its findings to-date. He’s the Charles Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture at Iowa State and has been a faculty member in agronomy since 1993. He holds a B.S. degree from Arizona State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University. Moore also is the director of the Master of Science in Agronomy distance education program and teaches graduate agronomy courses.