International Student Feature: effects of cover crops
By Monica Sharma, Staff Photographer|February 25, 2021
Madhavi Tiwari, a master’s student from Nepal in the Department of Agriculture in Carbondale, Ill. collects gas samples for further study on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. “Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the greenhouse gases (GHGs), which plays a significant role in ozone layer depletion and eventually leads to global warming. About 77.8 percent of total U.S. N2O emission takes place in agricultural sectors. Nitrogen (N) is leached and emitted from the soil in the form of nitrate and nitrous oxide gas. Cover crop (CC) rotations and no-till are the most important practices to prevent N loss,” Tiwari said. The objective of the study was to compare the effects of cover crops on yield, N uptake, N leeching, and N balance to conventional tillage practices, such as reduced tillage or no till. N2O emissions were measured in all treatments in the hopes of increasing grower awareness and knowledge of tillage and cover crop combination to promote better conservation practices. (Monica Sharma | @msclic_ks)
