Integrating perennials and poultry in wide-row corn for improved soil and crop health

Overview

This research program investigates whether integrating perennial cover crops (PCCs) and poultry into a wide-row corn production system can improve soil health and crop performance while reducing off-farm inputs and investment costs. While annual cover crops and livestock integration in corn systems have been studied extensively, the combined use of perennial cover crops and poultry in wide-row corn (60-inch row width) is a novel approach with limited prior research. The work addresses two core questions: whether wide-row corn grown with PCCs and poultry can match or exceed the yield and health of conventionally grown corn (30-inch row width), and whether seasonal variability in biological soil health indicators is greatest in spring samples under PCC–poultry integration. The project offers a practical pathway toward more sustainable, input-efficient corn production for producers seeking resilient cropping systems.

Technical specifications

Experimental design:

• Split-plot field experiment with four replications
• Three perennial cover crop treatments: grass only, legume only, and grass/legume mix
• One control treatment with no perennial cover crops
• Two poultry treatments: with poultry and without poultry
• Continuous corn production system with 32 total plots
• Perennial cover crops seeded in early spring before corn planting
• Turkeys integrated into PCC–poultry sub-treatment plots after harvest

Soil health measurements:

• Soil cores collected before planting (spring) and after harvest (fall) from the 0–6 inch depth
• Biological soil health indicators including phospholipid fatty acid analysis, enzyme activity, soil respiration, microbial biomass, and permanganate oxidizable organic carbon

Crop health and productivity measurements:

• Corn plant heights at V5/V6 and R1 growth stages
• SPAD meter readings at V5/V6 stage
• End-of-season corn stalk nitrate
• Cob weights, grain weights per cob, number of grains per cob, and total yields
• Correlation of crop metrics with biological soil health indicators

Technology readiness level

The project is at an early-to-mid stage of field validation. A Year 1 (2022 fall) evaluation of selected soil physical health indicators and grain yield has been completed. Results from the first year showed that the control treatment performed significantly better than the PCC treatments, which did not support the original hypothesis. However, the grass/legume mixture showed potential to improve soil physical health compared to grass-only and legume-only treatments. These early findings indicate that multi-year data is needed before drawing conclusions. The proposed future validation will expand the assessment to include biological, chemical, and physical soil health indicators alongside crop health and productivity metrics across multiple seasons, advancing the research toward more comprehensive validation of the PCC–poultry integration approach.