Cover Crop Series: Browntop Millet

Browntop Millet is one of my favorite grass cover crops. It is adapted to a broad range of soil textures. It is usually the shortest of the summer grass cover crops in height but it still does a good job of shading the soil surface. Browntop millet will grow about 45 days before it goes reproductive. Seed produced on browntop millet cover crops can create volunteer stands and it is not uncommon to see browntop millet seedlings growing in manure pats of cows grazing mature plants. Seeding rate was 16 pounds per acre.

The plots were drill planted in 7.5 inch rows in a clean-tilled and culti-packed seedbed on May 16, 2017 at the Noble Research Institute Headquarters Farm in Ardmore, Oklahoma on a Weatherford fine sandy loam. Planting depth was shallow, about 0.5 inch, in a dry seedbed and 2.33 inches of rain fell over the next three days. There was no fertilizer, insecticide, or herbicide applied to the crops and pigweed pressure in the field was very heavy. Rainfall was below average after establishment.