Producing a winter crop before soybean is a common practice in North Carolina. Traditionally, wheat has been the primary winter crop grown in the state prior to soybean, however, other emerging winter crop scenarios include rapeseed and cover crops. With new winter crop scenarios increasing in popularity across the region, investigation into rotational impact on soybean and optimal soybean MG use is merited. This experiment was conducted in five
environments across North Carolina in 2019 and 2020. Main plot treatments included cereal rye as cover crop, cereal rye/crimson clover as cover crop mixture, May fallow, wheat for grain, rapeseed for grain, and a June fallow. Sub-plot treatments included soybean MG III, V, and VII. Data collected included cover crop/residue biomass, winter crop grain yields, soybean stand, soil moisture, soil temperature, N availability, soybean yield, and soybean seed quality. Cereal
rye and cereal rye/crimson clover mixture cover crops produced the most biomass across all environments and sometimes soybean stand was reduced behind these cover crops. Rotation impacted soil temperature and soil moisture across most environments at planting and soybean growth stage V2. Nitrogen dynamics were typically impacted by rotation but not MG. Despite observed differences in soybean stand, soil temperature, soil moisture, and N dynamics
between the various rotational scenarios, soybean yield was typically similar between the rotations highlighting the complexity of these rotations and their impact on soybean yield.