Summer Cover Crop Use in Arizona Vegetable Production Systems
Many vegetable growers in the low deserts of Arizona and California fallow their fields during the hot summer months, providing an excellent window to grow warm-season cover crops that are adapted to the intense desert heat. Cover crops are any ground cover grown to add nitrogen to the soil, suppress pest populations, mitigate soil erosion, and reduce nutrient leaching. Most importantly, growing cover crops can build up and maintain soil organic matter, a major source for sustaining and increasing agricultural productivity. This is particularly important in the desert southwest because soils in the area are typically low in organic matter. In addition, the combination of pest suppression and nitrogen fixation from legumes could be especially useful in organic production systems, where no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers can be used. Despite the benefits of integrating cover crop rotations into commercial production schemes, careful management is required since cover crops can modify the availability of soil nitrogen and other critical nutrients.
AZ1519
Keywords:
- summer cover crop
- vegetable system
- cowpea
- lablab
- sesbania
- sudangrass
- pearl millet
Publication Date:
July 2010
AZ1519
Pages:
4 pp.