Double-cropping in Nebraska? It's possible. A research project underway at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center near Mead is evaluating a double-crop production system using pulse crops. The experiment was designed by University of Nebraska faculty and graduate students as a potential alternative to the traditional corn-soybean rotation commonly used in the area.

A corn-soybean rotation (with no cover crop) can leave the soil exposed to degradation, and can lead to overreliance on pesticides and fertilizers, frequent outbreaks of diseases and insects, herbicide-resistant weeds, and increased financial risks associated with low market prices. Diversifying a crop production system by including additional crops or methods can help overcome these issues.

Fitting into rotation
This experiment used yellow field peas as the first crop in the double-crop system. Yellow field peas are typically planted in March and harvested in July.

Although not evaluated in this experiment, winter wheat (seeded in September or October, and harvested in July) could be another cool-season crop option and provide additional benefits by overwintering and protecting the soil. As seen in wheat variety plots over the last couple years, wheat can perform well in eastern Nebraska.

The objectives of this project are to:

• evaluate the yield potential of pulse crops (field peas, lentil, and chickpeas) in eastern Nebraska

• evaluate the feasibility of double-cropping yellow field peas with short-season crops (corn, soybean, grain sorghum, millet and sunflower) and annual forages (forage sorghum and sorghum-sudangrass) by measuring crop production and performing an economic analysis

• investigate the benefits of incorporating cover crops and livestock grazing into the cropping systems

• design the cropping system with an extended growing season that will minimize pesticide and fertilizer inputs and be more water-use efficient

First-year results
Although the double-crop experiment is ongoing, a key component was to conduct a pulse crop variety trial to identify which varieties are best adapted to the environment in eastern Nebraska. The variety trial was conducted adjacent to the double-crop experiment at ENREC.

Yellow peas, green peas, lentils, and chickpeas were planted early in the spring and evaluated for characteristics like flowering, maturity, plant height, test weight and yield.

Short-season crops (corn, soybean, sunflower, millet and milo), annual forages (forage sorghum and sudangrass) and cover crops were planted right after field pea harvest. The research is ongoing and data on yield and water use will be shared following harvest.

This research is being funded by the North Central SARE and the pulse crop seed industry, including Meridian Seed, Pulse USA, Great Northern Ag, Arrow Seed, Montana Integrity and NS Seed.

See the full results of the 2018 yellow field pea variety trial at Mead at UNL CropWatch. 

This report comes from UNL CropWatch.