Ames, Iowa
February 26, 2008
Historic high wheat prices last
fall sparked a 150 percent increase in Iowa winter wheat acres,
from 20 thousand acres to 50 thousand acres. A recent climb in
wheat contract prices to nearly $20 per bushel on the
Minneapolis Grain Exchange is fueling farmer interest in spring
wheat plantings as well.
For farmers choosing to grow wheat, interseeding red clover with
their wheat crop could provide a number of benefits, according
to Lance Gibson, associate professor of agronomy at
Iowa State University.
“Red clover can supply nitrogen to a subsequent corn crop,
provide forage for livestock and build soil quality,” said
Gibson. “Because red clover is a legume, it’s capable of
biologically fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Research done in the
Upper Midwest has shown average fertilizer replacement value of
red clover for a subsequent corn crop is 80 to 120 pounds per
acre.”
Good stands of recently developed red clover varieties can
provide multiple years of high quality forage, said Gibson. He
also cites research showing animal performance from red clover
can be as high as, or even higher than, alfalfa. Red clover also
can mitigate erosion, suppress weeds and build soil organic
matter.
Interseeding red clover into winter wheat is accomplished using
frost seeding techniques. Red clover seed is broadcast over the
wheat crop in late March or early April.
For spring wheat acres, seeding of red clover can be combined
with the spring wheat planting operation. Combined planting
requires a seed drill capable of simultaneously planting wheat
and red clover seed.
The Iowa State University Extension publication “Intercropping
Winter Cereal Grains and Red Clover” contains best management
practices for seeding red clover into wheat and information on
managing the red clover crop as a green manure or forage crop.
It can be obtained free as a PDF document on the Web at
http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM2025.pdf or
from ISU Extension field agronomists and ISU Extension offices. |
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