Management of cover crops at flowering and physiological maturity and its effect on maize yield

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of cover crop management at flowering and physiological maturity on maize yield cultivated in succession. The experiment, in a randomized complete block design in a split-plot arrangement, was carried out on a Cerrado Oxisol under no-tillage system, with nine species. The following were evaluated: dry matter yield; turnover time of plant residues; N contents in cover crop plants; and maize grain yield and N contents in leaves. The species Pennisetum glaucum, Mucuna aterrima, Cajanus cajan, and Canavalia brasiliensis showed the highest dry matter yields during flowering. In physiological maturity, Sorghum bicolor, P. glaucum, C. brasiliensis, Crotalaria juncea, and C. cajan showed higher phytomass contents. There was no effect of mowing time and of the interaction between cover crop species and mowing time on maize yields. The highest maize yields were obtained after planting of Urochloa ruziziensis, C. juncea, C. brasiliensis, C. cajan, P. glaucum, and Raphanus sativus, and are associated with the higher dry matter yield and lower turnover time of the plant residues of the cover crop species.