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Northeast Nebraska | Carbon penalty for corn on corn: to start, soil microbes use N as food to break down carbon in the soil. Corn stover is very high in carbon. Generally in corn on corn a producer must do tillage to help accelerate the carbon break down which burns organic matter because it oxygenates the soil which jumpstarts the microbes which eat the om. Also a producer generally has to apply 20% more nitrogen with corn on corn to maintain their corn on soybean yield level because the microbes tie up a lot more N while breaking down the carbon in the stover.. This makes corn on corn less economical. This same principal applies to the "free" nitrogen from soybeans. Soybeans are a net user of the N they fix, but they leave so little carbon in the soil that less N needs applied. The high carbon to nitrogen ratio from corn on corn is what I refer to as the carbon penalty. By cover cropping with 75% vetch and removing stover I will be able to eliminate erosion compared to tillage, remove the extra carbon, and the vetch is low in carbon and may simulate the effect of corn on soybeans in theory. Thus produce corn on corn with no tillage and no extra nitrogen needed. Hopefully environmentally friendly and profitable. I can't stand tillage in our hills even though most corn on corn guys do it. Other than the carbon penalty there are other theories to the yield drag in corn on corn such as allelopathy from the previous stover which again would be cured by this.
Edited by baier91 1/16/2016 11:25
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cover crops and baling cornstalks
