Study finds key temperature limits to improve cover crop management
Understanding how temperature affects plant growth is important in agriculture, especially for cover crops grown between major planting seasons. These crops protect the soil from erosion, improve moisture retention, add nutrients, support soil structure, and help suppress weeds. They also provide habitat for insects and can be used as livestock forage.
However, accurate temperature limits for many cover crops were not known earlier, making it difficult for scientists to create reliable growth models.
Researchers from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, led by soil fertility expert Dr. Trent Roberts, studied eight widely used cover crops to identify their “cardinal temperatures.” These include the base temperature, where growth begins; the optimal temperature, where growth is fastest; and the maximum temperature, where growth stops due to heat.
The team used controlled growth chambers to test plants such as crimson clover, Austrian winter pea, balansa clover, barley, black-seeded oats, common vetch, cereal rye, and hairy vetch. They recorded 14 newly identified cardinal temperatures, including several values that were different from earlier published data. For example, the base temperature for cereal rye was almost 9°C lower than what scientific literature previously reported. This finding is important because incorrect values can cause major errors in predicting plant growth.