Establishment trial of an oak-pine/soybean-corn-wheat alley-cropping system in the upper coastal plain of North Carolina

Abstract

Alley cropping may prove useful in the Southeast United States, providing multiple products and income streams, as well as affording sustainable land use alternatives to conventional farming. An alley-cropping system may be a good alternative in agriculture because of the benefits provided by trees to crops and soils, as well as the income generated from wood products and timber. In the current study triple row single-species strips of cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), or longleaf pine (P. palustris Mill.) were planted separated by 12- or 24-m wide areas of agricultural crops. Survival, seedling height, and diameter growth were measured in the first and second year of the study. Cherrybark oak, loblolly pine, and longleaf pine seedlings all had over 80 percent survival rates and showed positive height and diameter growth over the first two growing seasons.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the 15th biennial southern silvicultural research conference

Citation

Stevenson, H.D.; Robison, D.J.; Cubbage, F.W.; Mueller, J.P.; Burton, M.G.; Gocke, M.H. 2013. Establishment trial of an oak-pine/soybean-corn-wheat alley-cropping system in the upper coastal plain of North Carolina. In: Guldin, James M., ed. 2013. Proceedings of the 15th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. e-Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-GTR-175. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 237-240.