Introduction
The cover crop did moderately well in the spring of 2007. Planting went very well, with good soybean germination. The rest of the summer there was a record drought. Weed suppression was good at first, but with very little soybean growth grass weeds began to dominate toward the end of the season.

Methods
Ten treatments of two varieties of rye were planted as cover crops Nov. 6, 2006 as part of a randomized complete block design consisting of four replications. Half of the treatments were drilled at 2.5 bu/A and half were drilled at 5 bu/A. All treatment were planted to Wheeler rye except for two which were planted to Hancock rye. One set of Wheeler rye treatments (a 2.5 bu/A and a 5 bu/A) were broadcast-seeded while the rest were drilled in 7.5 inch rows.

The rye was rolled/crimped (R/C) at flowering and S2020 variety food-grade soybeans (180,000 seeds/A) were drilled June 1, 2007 for all but two treatments. One Wheeler rye treatment was mowed and rototilled at flowering and another was R/C one week later (June 8, after drilling). Soybeans were harvested Oct. 25.

results
While planting conditions for the soybeans were very good and germination was excellent, drought conditions set in before the soybeans could canopy. Yields for this season were very low, with only three treatments yielding above 6 bu/A (Hancock rye (5 bu/A) at 6.3 bu/A and the Wheeler rye mowed and rototilled treatments, 2.5 and 5 bu/A at 11.5 and 8.5 bu/A, respectively). The two conventional organic tillage treatments did considerably better than the others. They had significantly higher yields than all Wheeler rye treatments and the 2.5 bu/A Hancock rye treatment. The 2.5 bu/A treatment of Wheeler rye (mowed and rototilled, with cultivations and rotary hoeing) yielded higher than all other treatments. The conventional organic treatments had considerably higher broadleaf weeds as compared to grass weeds. In contrast, the R/C plots had higher densities of grass weeds.

Additional data show that Wheeler rye planted at 2.5 bu/A compared to 5 bu/A was shorter by 5 to 7 inches and had 200 to 300 lb/A lower biomass. Hancock rye treatments had similar height, but the 2.5 bu/A seeding had 150 lb/A lower biomass than the 5 bu/A seeding. The rye seeding rate did not seem to affect soybean yield except in the mowed and rototilled treatments. Weed biomass was lower in all 5 bu/A rye compared to all 2.5 bu/A rye.