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Cover crop stubble and straw management in seed production of timothy (Phleum pratense L.), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis Huds.), and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)

The market for cereal straw has diminished in many seed-production areas due to less livestock. Seed growers, therefore, want to chop and return the straw. The objective was to investigate the effect of cover crop stubble height and straw management on vegetative growth in autumn and the following year's seed yield of timothy, meadow fescue, and red clover. The plan included two stubble heights (5–10 cm and 20–30 cm) combined with four different straw and stubble managements, (A) straw removal, (B) straw chopping at combining, (C) flail-chopping with tractor after combining, and (D) straw chopping in two operations (B + C). The cover crop was either spring barley or spring wheat. On average for all trials and plots where the straw was removed, by the end of the sowing year, a tendency of 9% more tillers of meadow fescue, 29% more tillers of timothy, and 27% more plants of red clover was produced on plots with short than with long stubble. In the following year, the average seed yields were not significantly affected by stubble height in meadow fescue and timothy, but 11% higher on plots with short than with long stubble in red clover. This indicates that red clover is more vulnerable to the shade created by a long stubble than the two grass species. When the stubble was short, straw chopping produced equally high seed yields as straw removal in all species. For seed growers without their own husbandry or not receiving any payment for the cover crop straw, chopping of straw is, therefore, recommended as an environmentally sound and cost-saving alternative to straw removal. The straw must be chopped with sharp knives as finely as possible and spread evenly on the soil surface to facilitate rapid decomposition and rapid penetration by the undersown seed crop.