A mixture of grass-legume cover crop species may ameliorate water stress in a changing climate

Climate change models predict increasing precipitation variability in the mid-latitude regions of Earth, generating a need to reduce negative impacts of these changes on crop production. Despite considerable research on how cover crops support agriculture in a changing climate, understanding is limited of how climate change influences the growth of cover crops. We investigated the early development of two common cover crop species – crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and rye (Secale cereale L.) – and hypothesized that growing them in mixture would ameliorate stress from drought or waterlogging. This hypothesis was tested in a 25-day greenhouse experiment, where the two factors (species number, water stress) were fully crossed in randomized blocks, and plant responses were quantified through survival, growth rate, biomass production, and root morphology. Water stress negatively influenced the early growth of these two species in contrasting ways: crimson clover was susceptible to drought while rye performed poorly under waterlogging. Per-plant biomass in rye was always greater in mixture than in monoculture, while per-plant biomass of crimson clover was greater in mixture under drought. Both species grew longer roots in mixture than in monoculture under drought, and total biomass of mixtures did not differ significantly from the more-productive monoculture (rye) in any water condition. In the face of increasingly variable precipitation, growing crimson clover and rye together has potential to ameliorate water stress, a possibility that should be further investigated in field experiments.