oe 
LEGUMES 
by C. A. Yan Hocus ced O.E. Hays, a 
~*~ Soil and Water Conservation Reseatch Division, 
— 2s _ Agricultural Research Service 
BENEFITS FROM INTERSEEDING 
Using corn as the nurse crop 
offers more benefits than the con- 
ventional practice of seeding in 
grain. 
Less Erosion Loss 
Erosion losses from fields planted 
to small grain have been severe in 
some parts of the Corn Belt. At 
the Dixon Springs (Ill.) Experi- 
ment Station, soil losses from plots 
of winter wheat were greater than 
from plots of corn. At the La 
Crosse Soil and Water Conserva- 
tion Station, Wis.,* plots in spring 
grain lost twice as much water in 
runoff as land in corn following 
hay. Soil losses were two and one- 
half times as heavy. | 
In addition, a vigorous cover 
crop between the corn rows helps 
greatly to control erosion in the 
_ Corn. 
More Feed Value 
Either corn or hay produces more 
feed per acre than small grain. 
Corn yielding 100 bushels per acre 
produces about 5,200 pounds of 
TDN (total digestible nutrients). 
In contrast, oats yielding 75 bushels 
* Agricultural Research Service, U. S. 
D. A. 
_ nately at 40 and 80 inches. 
per acre produces only about 1,700 
pounds of TDN as grain and 2,500 
pounds as silage or hay. Alfalfa 
yielding 4 tons per acre produces 
about 4,100 pounds of TDN. 
CORN TILLAGE 
Row Spacing 
Corn must be planted in rows 
spaced wider than normal. Sparse 
stands and poor survival of inter- 
seeded legumes and grasses are fre- 
quent when the interseeding is made 
in narrow-spaced rows (40 or 42 
inches). Insufficient light in the 
narrow rows may be a factor. Corn 
in narrow-spaced rows also depletes 
the available soil moisture. 
For interseeded green manure 
crops, corn rows may be spaced 60 
to 80 inches apart, or spaced alter- 
( Alter- 
nate spacing is the same as omitting 
every third row in a normal 40- 
inch row planting system.) Good 
stands can be expected in the 60- 
and 80-inch rows. With the other 
plan, poorer stands can be expected 
in the 40-inch rows. 
A row spacing of 60 or 80 inches 
is recommended when interseeding 
for hay production. 
The exact row spacing may de- 
pend on the type of equipment 
available. 
