Modified Relay Intercropping (MRI) is the planting of soybeans (Glycine max) into standing winter wheat (Triticum aestium L.). Fields are covered by growing crop about 13.5 months for each 14 month time period in this cropping system. Soybeans in the MRI system are sown into wheat with a grain drill or tool bar planter in late May or early June. The wheat has a tramline to facilitate soybean planting. The wheat plant, by virtue of its wide adaptability, is able to tolerate slightly wider row spacing and the stress of soybean planting with minimal yield loss. Ten years of replicated field trials on the MRI system have resulted in average plot yields of 74 and 30 bushels per acre for wheat and soybeans respectively. For wheat that was not interseeded, a 7 percent yield reduction for wheat grown in 15 inch rows versus wheat grown in 10 inch rows was observed over the 3 soft red winter wheat varieties and 5 years of study. When wheat was interseeded in 15 inch rows, there was a 7% decrease in yield from wheat not interseeded. A calculation of soil loss over MRI and other cropping systems found 1.9 tons per acre soil saved when MRI was used.
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