Study Shows a Single Cover Crop can Outperform Mixtures

Aug 30, 2022

Cover crops can be a valuable tool for weed suppression—successfully competing with weeds for light, water, nutrients and space. As a result, new cover crop seed mixes are growing in popularity as a sustainable option for weed management. But do these diverse mixtures do a better job at suppressing weeds than a single, monoculture cover crop?

In this multiyear field study featured in the journal Weed Science, a team from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada set out to answer that question. They compared 19 monoculture cover crops from four taxonomic groups (brassica, forb, grass, and legume), with 19 mixtures containing multiple plants that represented from one to three cover crop species.

Their results demonstrated that weed biomass dramatically declined as cover crop biomass and diversity increased. However, monocultures of buckwheat, oat, pearl millet or sorghum sudangrass were typically more productive and more weed suppressive than the average mixture. This result was consistent across regions, seasons, mixture composition and functional diversity.

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Video: Why Invest in Canada’s Seed Future? | On The Brink: Episode 3

Darcy Unger just invested millions to build a brand-new seed plant on his farm in Stonewall, Manitoba so when it’s time for his sons to take over, they have the tools they need to succeed.

Right now, 95% of the genetics they’ll be growing come from Canadian plant breeders.

That number matters.

When fusarium hit Western Canada in the late 90s, it was Canadian breeders who responded, because they understood Canadian conditions. That ability to react quickly to what’s happening on Canadian farms is exactly what’s at risk when breeding programs lose funding.

For farmers like Darcy, who have made generational investments based on the assumption that better genetics will keep coming, the stakes are direct and personal.

We’re on the brink of decisions that will shape our agricultural future for not only our generation, but also the ones to come.

What direction will we choose?

On The Brink is a year-long video series traveling across Canada to meet the researchers, breeders, farmers, seed companies, and policymakers shaping the future of Canadian plant breeding. Each week, a new story. Each story, a piece of the bigger picture.

Episode 3 is above. Follow Seed World Canada to catch every episode, and tell us: Do you think the next generation will have the tools they need to success when they takeover? How is the future going to look?