Evaluating the effects of cotton intercropping on cool‐season perennial forage persistence, forage mass, and nutritive value in the southeastern United States

This is digital research data corresponding to a published manuscript, Evaluating the effects of cotton intercropping on cool-season perennial forage persistence, forage mass, and nutritive value in the southeastern United States, in Agronomy Journal.

Integrated forage–row cropping systems provide important agronomic and economic benefits to producers. However, little attention has been given to incorporating forages into row crop systems unique to the southeastern United States. This study assessed the viability of intercropping cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) on perennial, cool-season legumes during the summer months in the Southeast Coastal Plain over two production years. Treatments included a weedy fallow, annual ryegrass (ARG; Lolium multiflorum Lam.) monoculture, a red clover (RC; Trifolium pratense L.) and white clover (WC; Trifolium repens L.) mixture, and a three-species mixture of ARG, RC, and WC. Plots were established in fall 2020 with forage grown until May 2021 and 2022, when plots were strip-tilled and planted with cotton. Cotton was managed with minimal herbicide use to preserve perennial clovers.
Methods
Data was collected over two years (October 2020 - October 2022) at the Clemson Pee Dee Research and Education Center near Florence, SC. Data was collected by field measurements of plant height, biomass accumulation, and species persistence and diversity, with laboratory assays conducted to collect plant nutritional composition. Forage nutrtitive value parameters and fiber content were conducted by a third-party laboratory (Dairy One LLC, Ithaca, NY).