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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #432708
Research Project: Climate-Smart Alternative Crops and Cropping Systems for the Upper Midwest

Location: Soil Management Research

Title: Relay cropping winter camelina with chickpea, sunflower, and safflower

Author
item Eberle, Carrie
item Gesch, Russell
item BERNARDS, MARK - Rosen'S Inc

Submitted to: Agronomy Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2026
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The winter camelina relay-cropping system enhances agriculture by incorporating a winter oilseed crop into a conventional rotation, producing two crops in one year. Camelina is seeded in the fall and a summer crop is planted in the spring directly into the camelina. The camelina is harvested over the top of the summer crop and the summer crop is harvested later in the growing season. Soybeans are the primary summer crop used in this system but identifying other summer crops that can be relayed with camelina will increase acres where camelina can be grown. Researchers in Morris, MN, tested if chickpea, sunflower, and safflower were able to be relay-cropped with camelina. Results were variable, with relay-cropped summer crop yields only being reduced in one of the two years tested, which is common with relay-cropping. The results indicate that all three crops can be relay cropped with winter camelina but future work on agronomic management will be needed to optimize the system.

Technical Abstract: Relay cropping involves overlapping growing phases of two crops and is used to increase plant cover on the landscape, land productivity, and crop diversity. We evaluated relay cropping three summer crops (Chickpea [Cicer arietinum L.], sunflower [Helianthus annuus L.], and safflower [Carthamus tinctorius L.]) with winter camelina (Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz) between 2022 and 2025 to determine suitability of each summer crop for relay cropping with winter camelina. Relay crop treatment resulted in slower canopy closure following winter camelina harvest and delayed development of all summer crops relative to monocrop treatments. Relay crop chickpea yield (2015 kg ha-1) was lower than monocrop chickpea (3397 kg ha-1) in 2023, but not in 2024 (1492 and 1524 kg ha-1, relatively) and seed protein was unaffected. Relay crop sunflower yield (1508 kg ha-1), oil content (503 g kg-1), and oil yield (760 kg ha-1) were lower than monocrop sunflower (4428 kg ha-1, 548 g kg-1, and 2426 kg ha-1, respectively) in 2023 but not 2025. Safflower seed yield and seed oil yield were not affected by relay crop treatment either year. Spring weed population was not affected by relay crop treatment, but all three summer crops had higher weed biomass in the relay crop treatment before summer crop harvest in fall of 2023. All three crops have potential to be relay cropped with winter camelina and future work on agronomic management will be needed to optimize the system.