Cover crops seeded into standing corn with a highboy sprayer attachment produced four to 10 times more biomass than those drilled after harvest, researchers found in a replicated trial by Iowa Learning Farms and Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI).

Cereal rye seeded with the highboy on Aug. 27 last fall accumulated 200 to 475 pounds of biomass per acre in test plots at three locations, PFI research director Stefan Gailans said recently at a field day at the Iowa State University research farm in Kanawha. Rye drilled on Oct. 15 and 16 at the same three locations accumulated zero to 50 pounds...