Evaluation of Perennial Groundcover Species for Corn Production

These datasets represent two years of experimental data collected to evaluate the performance of Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and perennial ryegrass varieties as perennial groundcover (PGC) candidates for corn cropping systems. The data is from the establishment year of the PGC system. For the first experimental year (2023-2024), the PGC varieties were drilled in the previous fall (18 September 2023), following removal of the previous cash crop. In the second experimental year (2024-2025), the PGC varieties were established on 9 October 2024. The data includes grass and weed biomass, fraction of (PGC, weed, background) cover from image analysis, fraction of PGC that is active (green) or dormant (brown) from image analysis, corn destructive measurements taken at V3 and V7, and corn grain yield and yield components.

Acknowledgments: This research was funded by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2021-68012-35923 from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Corteva Agriscience, GO Seed, Barenbrug, and Warner Bros for seed donation.