Published January, 1991
Growth Rate and Water Use by Legume Species at Three Soil Temperatures
J. A. Zachariassen and J. F. Power*
ABSTRACT
Legumes may be used to reduce fertilizer inputs, provide ground
cover for soil erosion protection, and reduce residual soil nitrates.
Little data are available to guide a producer in selecting a legume
that matches water and temperature conditions and produces ac-
ceptable growth and N2-flxation rates. The purpose of the experi-
ment reported here was to provide such information. After a 14-d
germination period at 20 °C, we grew eight legume species at soil
temperatures of 10,20, and 30 °C (± 2 °) for 105 d in a greenhouse.
Daily water use was recorded, and plant dry weights were measured
every 21 d. Initially annual species such as soybean [Glycine max
(L.) Men.] and fababean (Viciafaba L.) grew fastest at all temper-
atures. For the first 42 d at 10 °C, white clover (Trifolium repens
L.), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), and hairy vetch (Vicia
villosa L.) also exhibited rapid growth. With warmer temperatures
and longer growth periods, lespedeza (Lespedeza stipula L.) as well
as soybean grew rapidly. At 20 and 30 °C, soybean growth was often
more than double that of most other species. Growth was maximal
at 10 °C for fieldpea (Pisum arvense L.), hairy vetch, and crimson
clover; at 20 °C for fababean and white clover; and at 30 °C for
soybean, sweetclover (Melilotus alba L.), and lespedeza. Average
water-use rates and water-use efficiency generally paralleled growth,
except water use increased and water-use efficiency decreased as soil
temperature increased. These results indicate that growth and water
use differed greatly among legume species, that each legume species
has its own characteristic optimum growth temperature, and that
this optimum temperature for a given species may change as growth
progresses.
P RODUCTION COSTS plus soil erosion and water
quality concerns have resulted in many farmers
and agronomists evaluating the potential benefits of
using cover crops (Power and Follett, 1987). A legume
provides ground cover to reduce erosion potential, re-
duce fertilizer N inputs and costs, and deplete residual
soil nitrates and water, thereby reducing potential for
ground water contamination. Use of cover crops may
J.A. Zachariassen, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, CO
80522; and J.F. Power, USDA-ARS, Keim Hall, East Campus,
Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583. Contribution from
USDA-ARS in cooperation with the Agric. Research Div., Univ. of
Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. Publ. as Journal Series no. 9277,
Agric. Res. Div. Received 5 Jan. 1990. "Corresponding author.
Published in Agron. J. 83:408-413 (1991).
also reduce weed infestations. Many of these benefits
are discussed in more detail in Power (1987).
In order to select the best legumes to use as cover
crops, as well as the best cultural practices to use, one
must consider the growth rates, water-use patterns,
and N2-fixing ability of candidate species under dif-
ferent environmental conditions. Also, the type of
cropping system employed would affect the choice of
cover crop. For spring planted crops, likely cover
crops would be either winter annuals or early spring
annuals. For winter wheat, a summer crop might be
used for cover crop. The literature provides some gen-
eral guidelines regarding characteristics of potential
cover crop species (Hughes et al., 1967; Heath et al.,
1985), but detailed comparisons among species are
limited.
Few studies have been published regarding relative
temperature responses of different legume species.
However, it is well recognized that winter annuals
such as hairy vetch and crimson clover generally per-
form better at low temperatures than many other spe-
cies (Power, 1987). For instance, Decker et al. (1987)
reported that N availability and uptake by a corn crop
(Zea mays L.) was greater, following winter annuals,
than when it followed other legumes. Even within a
given species such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), Hei-
chel et al. (1981) showed that large varietal differences
in N2-fixation rate may also occur. Elliott et al. (1987)
summarized differences in water use by legume spe-
cies.
The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate
growth, water use, and N2-fixation of several legume
species as affected by time and soil temperature.
Growth rates and water use of eight legume species
are reported for three temperatures in this paper. A
companion paper will report the effects of these var-
iables on N uptake and N2 fixation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This greenhouse study was analyzed as a split-split-plot
experiment with soil temperatures of 10, 20, and 30 °C as
main plots. Subplots were plant species (8), split by sampling
date (5), with three replicates of each. Plant species used were
 ZACHARIASSEN & POWER LEGUME GROWTH RATE AND WATER USE 409

Table 1. Shoot dry weight of eight legumes for five sampling dates and three soil temperatures.
Species#
Soil temo. Davst SB FB FP HV cc sc WCL LD
"C d g pot-' ~ LSD 0.05
10 21 2.10 2.10 1.30 1.20 1.10 0.63 0.47 0.36 0.25
42 3.81 4.60 2.03 2.32 2.05 1.33 1.12 0.59 0.49
63 3.43 4.57 2.92 3.05 2.37 1.67 1.89 0.70 0.3 1
84 4.07 4.15 2.40 5.33 3.66 2.42 3.22 1.55 0.78
105 5.00 4.95 2.90 6.39 4.79 2.41 4.65 2.10 0.40
LSD 0.05 0.48 0.46 0.32 0.51 0.44 0.30 0.40 0.27
20 21 2.06 2.89 0.62 0.79 1.14 0.82 0.55 0.42 0.32
42 4.01 5.01 2.04 1.41 2.50 1.85 1.63 1.19 0.39
63 7.40 5.47 2.09 2.56 3.78 3.15 2.81 2.43 0.67
84 10.50 5.82 2.31 2.65 4.71 3.95 3.47 4.41 0.86
105 14.63 6.53 2.07 4.26 3.37 4.24 5.20 7.84 0.88
LSD 0.05 0.9 1 0.51 0.32 0.39 0.37 0.32 0.47 0.48
30 21 2.01 2.24 1.63 1.oo 0.94 0.84 0.48 0.53 0.44
42 4.01 2.43 1.68 1.16 1.74 1.85 1.36 1.57 0.36
63 7.91 2.62 1.22 1.71 1.75 2.63 2.43 3.04 0.82
84 11.91 3.07 1.59 1.79 2.14 2.97 3.00 4.94 0.85
105 16.68 2.80 1.31 2.10 2.00 4.43 3.39 10.10 1.01
LSD 0.05 1.02 0.34 0.22 0.20 0.28 0.35 0.30 0.62
LSD 0.05 (all
temus and davs) 0.60 0.41 0.25 0.30 0.33 0.30 0.33 0.38
t Days after initiation of temperature treatment (14 d after planting).
$ SB, soybean; FB, fababean; FP, fieldpea; HV, hairy vetch; CC, crimson clover; SC, sweetclover, WCL, white clover; and LD, lespedeza

perennial legumes: sweetclover (SC)] and white clover
(WCL); winter annual legumes: crimson clover (CC) and
lespedeza (LD); annual legumes: soybean (SB), fieldpea (FP),
fababean (FB), and hairy vetch (HV).
Three constant temperature ( ? 2 "C) water baths were
used for soil temperature control, designed according to Wil-
lis et al. (1 963). Water temperature was monitored and con-
trolled by use of automated recording equipment. All
treatments were replicated three times in each tank. No at-
tempt was made to vary air temperature because soil tem-
perature generally has a much greater effect on plant growth
(Richards et al., 1952). The experiment was initiated 18 Feb-
ruary and continued until 3 June (105 d). Air temperature
was maintained at 20 "C f 3 O , and 300 W m-2 supplemental
light was used until there was at least 14 h daily of natural
light (about 15 April on clear days).
Seed of each legume species was inoculated with appro-
priate Rhizobium species (Nitragin CO.,~Milwaukee, WI)
and six to 12 seeds were planted in 1 100 g of Alliance silt
loam (fine silty, mixed, mesic Aridic Argiustoll) topsoil ob-
tained from the High Plains Research Station, Sidney, Ne-
braska. Pots were plastic-lined tins 10.7 cm in diam. and
17.5 cm deep and were filled within about 6 cm ofthe top.
After planting, soil in all pots was brought to field capacity
by adding a modified nutrient solution containing 4 pg L-'
NO,:N (Power et al., 1963). Soil analysis indicated all other
nutnents were adequate. Total weight of each prepared pot
was recorded.
After planting, pots were left for 14 d at 20 "C to permit
plant establishment, seedling root infection, and nodule de-
velopment. At Day 14 after planting, stands were thinned
to three plants/pot for large-seeded species (soybean, faba-
bean, fieldpea, and hairy vetch), and to six plants/pot for
small-seededspecies (sweetclover,white clover, crimson clo-
ver, and lespedeza). After thinning, a 5-cm layer of vermic-
ulite was added to the surface of soil in each pot to reduce
evaporation losses. Each pot within a replicate of a species
I Abbreviations: SC, sweet clover; WCL, white clover; CC, crim-
son clover; LD, lespedeza; SB, soybean; FP, fieldpea, FB, fababean;
and HV, hairy vetch.
Trade and company names are included for the benefit of the
reader and do not infer endorsement or preferential treatment of
the product named by the USDA or the University of Nebraska-
Lincoln.
was then randomly assigned to a temperature and sampling
date treatment. Sampling dates were established as 21, 42,
63, 84, and 105 d after initiation of temperature treatments.
Soil water content was maintained between 100 and 50%
field capacity. Each pot was removed from its respective
water bath, weighed, and watered with distilled water to a
predetermined weight (with adjustment for estimated plant
green weights) corresponding to field capacity. Initially,
weighing and watering was on a 3-d interval, but increased
to daily as water use rate increased. The quantity of water
added represented the amount of water used by plants in
each pot since the last watering. Position effects were min-
imized by rotating the position of each pot within each rep-
licate of water bath after each watering. Shoot growth of each
species was harvested at the soil surface on each sampling
date, and plant material was oven dried at 60 "C to constant
weight. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance, and or-
thogonal comparisons were calculated. Means were separat-
ed by use of LSD at P = 0.05.
RESULTS
Although analysis of variance and orthogonal com-
parisons were calculated, results provide limited guid-
ance in making interpretations because essentially all
variables and all interactions were statistically signif-
icant at P = 0.05. This resulted partly from the fact
that the 120 possible treatment combinations gave as
high as 359 total degrees of freedom.
At the earlier sampling dates for all three temper-
atures, growth rate was generally greatest for the an-
nual legumes (Table 1). Initially greatest growth was
recorded for soybean, fababean, and sometimes field-
pea and crimson clover. Lespedeza and white clover
grew slowly during the early part of the experiment.
By the last two sampling dates, some of the annual
legumes (especially fieldpea and fababean) had passed
anthesis (except at 10 "C),and growth slowed down
or ceased. Some species with slower initial growth (les-
pedeza and white clover) continued t o grow through-
out the entire 105-d period, and often exhibited faster
growth toward the end of the experiment.
410 AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 83, MARCH-APRIL 1991

Growth for soybean was outstanding at all times.
Greatest dry weight of all species and treatments was
recorded for soybean at 105 d and 30 "C (16.7 g pot-'),
with yield at 20 "C only slightly less (14.6 g pot-I). The
only other species to produce more than 6.5 g pot-1
was lespedeza at 105 d when grown at both 20 or
30 "C. The outstanding growth rate of soybean may
reflect advances in performance of this species through
genetic improvement. Much more effort has been de-
voted to soybean breeding than to improvement of
the other species.
Differencesbetween species may better be illustrated
by the relative ranking of dry weights within a tem-
perature and sampling date (Table 2). These rankings
indicate that fababean and soybean would provide
greatest growth for an early spring planting when soil
temperatures would be cool. Winter annuals such as
hairy vetch or crimson clover also grew well at cool
temperatures.
At warmer temperatures, soybean and fababean
grew rapidly for the first 42 d. Sweetclover also per-
formed relatively well at the harvest 42 d after treat-
ment initiation. With a growth period greater than 42
d and at warmer temperatures, lespedeza, sweetclover,
and soybean grew well. For short growth periods even
at warm temperatures, lespedeza and white clover per-
formed poorly.
The species investigated can be divided into several
groups based upon their growth rates. Species such as
fababean initially grew rapidly, flowered, and then ex-
hibited a reduced growth rate. Similar patterns were
exhibited by fieldpea, crimson clover, and hairy vetch,
none of which exhibited good performance at 30 "C.
A second group, characterized by lespedeza,grew slow-
ly initially but growth rate increased (especially at
warmer temperatures)later. Included in this group was
white clover and possibly sweetclover. Soybean ap-
peared to be in a separate group generally growing
exceptionally well under almost all conditions.
Relationships among treatments are expressed
graphically in Fig. 1, showing daily growth rate of soy-
bean, fababean, and lespedeza-species representative
of the legume types discussed above. Daily growth rate
of soybean was rapid and similar at all temperatures
the first 21 d. Thereafter growth rates at 20 and 30 "C
continued to increase while that at 10 "C declined to
very low levels. This resulted in a continual increase
in dry weights at 20 and 30 "C (with slightly greater
values at 30 "C), and very little additionalgrowth after
42 d at 10 "C. Growth rate for fababean was similar
to that for soybean the first 21 d, but then declined,
with slowest growth rate at 30 "C. At the other ex-
treme, lespedeza exhibited a very slow growth rate at
all temperatures the first 21 d. At later samplings
growth rate remained slow at 10 "C, but increased with
time at 20 and 30 "C. Growth after Day 83 was es-
pecially rapid at 30 "C. This is reflected in continued
increase in dry weights at 20 and 30 "C, especially at
the later sampling dates.
A summary of the dry-matter response is given in
Table 3. Maximum dry-matter production was great-
est with soybean (16.7 g pot-'), followed by lespedeza.
Maximum values for all other species were between
6.5 and 4.4 g pot-I, except fieldpea which was below
3.0 g pot-'. Maximum dry matter was measured at
Day 105 for all species except fieldpea which matured
early (maximum at 63 d after treatment began). Max-
imum dry weights occurred at 10 "C for three species
(fieldpea, crimson clover, and hairy vetch); at 20 "C
for two species (fababean and white clover); and at
30 "C for three species (soybean, sweetclover, and
lespedeza).
Initial growth rate is reflected by the date at which
50% or more of species' maximum dry weight was
recorded (Table 3). At both 10 and 30 "C, several spe-
cies failed to achieve 50% of the maximum dry weight
achieved for that species. Fieldpea, fababean, and
crimson clover achieved this level of production most
rapidly at both 10 and 20 "C. At 30 "C, fieldpea
reached 50% of maximum first, followed by soybean
and sweetclover. At all temperatures, sweetclover and
white clover both required 63 to 84 d of treatment to

Table 2. Relative rate of growth (rank)of eight species studied at three soil temperatures and five sampling dates.?
Rank
Days of
treatmenti Soil temu. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
d "C
21 10 SB FP HV cc sc WCL LD
20
30
2
FB
SB
SB
._
cc
FP
sc
HV
HV
cc
FP
sc
WCL
LD
LD
WCL
42 10 FB SB HV cc FP sc WCL LD
20 FB SB cc FP WCL sc LD HV
30 SB FB LD sc WCL cc HV FP
63 10 FP
__ WCL HV sc
__ cc LD FB SB
20 SB sc cc LD WCL HV FB FP
30 SB LD WCL sc HV FB cc FP
84 10 WCL cc LD HV sc SB FB FP
20 SB L€ cc sc WCL FB FP HV
30 SB LD WCL FB cc FP sc HV
105 10 WCL cc HV SB FB LD FP sc
20 SB LD WCL HV FB sc cc FP
30 SB LD sc WCL HV FB cc FP
f Plants were seeded 14 d prior to initiation of temperature treatments.
$ Days after initiation of temperature treatment (14 d after planting).
0 FB, fababeaq SB,s o y W , FP,fieldpea; HV, hairy vetch; CC, crimson clover, SC, sweetclover, WCL, white clover, and LD, lespedeza.
 ZACHARIASSEN & POWER LEGUME GROWTH RATE AND WATER USE 41 1

achieve 50% of their maximum yields. Using 3.0 g
pot-' (equivalent to 330 g m-2) as a minimum ac-
ceptable production level, data in Table 3 indicate that
at 10 "C, soybean, hairy vetch, crimson clover, and
white clover produced at this level in 42, 63, 84, and
84 d after treatment initiation (56, 77, 98, and 98 d
after planting), respectively.
When deciding which legume species to use as a
cover crop, consideration must be given not only to
relative growth rates as a function of temperature, but
also to relative water use and time of water use by
different species. This is especially important for rain-
fed agriculture where water deficits frequently limit
growth. Consequently daily water use from these ver-
miculite-covered pots was determined in this experi-
ment (Table 4).Because environmental conditions for
a given treatment were relatively constant throughout
Soybean
--a-10%
p
the experiment, in all instances water use essentially
increased linearly with time. Therefore, the daily water
use rates listed in Table 4 represent the average slopes
of these water use curves over the growth period.
Because the soil surfaces were covered, water-use
data represent water lost primarily by transpiration.
Consequently,for a given temperature, water-use rates
were closely related to growth rates, usually with great-
est water use for treatments exhibiting greatest growth.
For example, at 10 "C, water-use rates were greatest
for fababean and hairy vetch, and least for lespedeza
(Table 4). At 20 "C, water-use rate was greatest for
soybean and fababean, and least for fieldpea. As in-
dicated by growth data, water-use rate at 30 "C was
greatest for soybean, and least for fieldpea. It is of
interest to note that at 30 "C, water-use rate by les-
pedeza was intermediate whereas this species exhib-
ited relatively high dry-matter production by 105 d
after treatment initiation. This is a species that showed
a marked increase in both growth and water-use rate
with increased temperature. At the other extreme, spe-
cies that grew well at 10 "C (hairy vetch, fababean,
fieldpea, crimson clover) showed little increase (or

Table 3. Maximum dry weight and days of treatment to reach or

exceed 50%of maximum dry weight or 3.0 g pot' for eight species
at three soil temperatures.?
Speciest
SB FB FP HV CC SC WCL LD
-0 20 40 mi 80 loo 120
Maximum dry weight
B pot-' 16.7 6.5 2.9 6.4 4.8 4.4 5.2 10.1
days 105 105 63 105 105 105 105 105
Fababean temp PC) 30 20 10 10 10 30 20 30
--- Days of treatment to reach or exceed 50% maximum dry weight
- f --a- loc 10 "C
20 "C
8 42 21
84 42 42 105
84 63
42
84
63
84
63
8
105
30 "C 84 8 42 8 8 63 84 105
24 NS NS 23 Days of treatment to reach or exceed 3.0 g pot-'
E
10 "C 42 42 8 63 84 3 84 5
20 "C 42 42 5 105 63 63 84 84
30 "C 4 2 8 4 5 8 0 84 63
t Plants were seeded 74 d prior to initiation of temperature treatments.
# SB, soybean; FB, fababean; FP, fieldpea; HV, hairy vetch; CC, crimson clover,
SC, sweetclover, WCL, white clover, and LD, lespedeza
9 Indicates dry weights failed to meet production level indicated at any sampling
date.

Table 4. Average daily water use rate (105 d of treatment) as affected

Lespedeza by soil temserature.
300
---o,--
1ooc I Soil temDerature. "C
Speciest 10 20 30
ml day-' LSD 0.05
SB 18.7 60.8 79.5 6.6
FB 27.7 52.2 41.9# 5.0
FP 13.3$ 15.28 16.311 1.4
HV 29.3 36.9 31.7 3.3
cc 16.8 24.4 24.7 2.1
sc 19.9 34.2 41.6 3.9
WCL 19.9 29.1 30.7 2.7
LD 8.1 33.1 41.7 3.6
o a a m m io0 la, LSD 0.05 2.2 6.8 5.0
Days t SB, soybean; FB, fababean; FP, fieldpea; HV, hairy vetch; CC, crimson
clover; SC, sweetclover,WCL, white clover; and LD, lespedeza
Fig. 1. Growth rate for soybean (SB), fababean (FB), and lespedeza tTo86d
(LD) as affected by soil temperature and days after initiating tem- $To 65 d
perature treatments. llTo68d
412 AGRONOMY JOURNAL, VOL. 83, MARCH-APRIL 1991

Table 5. Water use efficiency of various species as affected by soil temperature and days of temperature treatment.
Speciest
Days of
treatment Soil temp. SB FB FP HV cc SC WCL LD
d "C g L-' LSD 0.05
21 10 5.8 4.4 5.3 2.8 4.3 3.6 7.1 6 0.6
20 3.6 3.2 1.5 2.0 2.6 2.3 2.8 2:2 0.4
30 2.5 2.2 2.9 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.4 1.7 0.3
42 10 4.7 3.0 3.1 2.8 2.9 2.3 3.1 3.6 0.5
20 2.4 2.0 2.1 1.4 1.9 1.5 2.4 2.0 0.4
30 1.5 1.2 1.6 0.9 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.4 0.3
63 10 3.3 2.1 3.4 1.8 2.4 1.7 2.0 1.7 0.4
20 2.2 1.5 1.8 1.3 1.9 1.6 2.2 1.9 0.3
30 1.7 1.1 0.9 0.9 1.1 1.o 1.4 1.7 0.2
84 10 2.8 ll n 2.1 2.4 1.5 2.2 2.5 0.3
20 2.1 n n 0.9 2.0 1.5 1.7 2.0 0.3
30 1.8 n n 0.7 1.o 0.9 1.3 1.7 0.3
105 10 2.6 n 1 2.1 2.7 1.2 2.2 2.5 0.4
20 2.3 ll n 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.7 2.3 0.3
30 2.0 n 7 0.7 0.8 1.o 1.1 2.3 0.3
LSD 0.05 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3
SB, soybean; FB, fababean; FP, fieldpea; HV, hairy vetch; CC, crimson clover, SC, sweetclover, WCL, white clover; and LD, lespedeza.
$ Days after initiation of temperature treatment (14 d after planting).
5 No data, insufficient growth.
ll Plants maturing, no data.

sometimes an actual decrease) in water-use rate when
soil temperature was increased from 20 to 30 "C.
Through the incorporation of cover crops, organic
matter is added to the soil, often at the expense of
stored soil water. This may be a critical exchange for
rain-fed conditions. Consequently water-use efficiency
measurements (units of dry matter per unit of water)
may be of major importance in selecting species to use
for cover crops. Results from this experiment generally
show that species that grow best usually had greatest
water-use efficiency (Table 5). Likewise, water-use ef-
ficiency usually decreased with plant age, and was
greatest at the lowest temperature.
As suggested above, water-use efficiency for soybean
was relatively high under almost all conditions be-
cause of the exceptional growth that usually occurred
with soybean. For early samplings, fababean also ex-
hibited high water-use efficiency. At warmer temper-
atures and later samplings, water-use efficiency for
lespedeza was relatively high. At both 10 and 20 "C,
crimson clover showed relatively high efficiency in
water use, usually considerably higher than hairy
vetch. Under most conditions sweetclover was inter-
mediate in water-use efficiency.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Selection of the best species to use as a cover crop
is dependent on a number of factors. These include
time of the year the cover crop will be grown, soil and
climate characteristics of the site, water availability,
and related factors. If the growth period for the cover
crop is short, annuals would generally perform best,
whereas biennials or perennials may be used with long-
er growing periods. If located in a climate where lim-
ited water availability may impair establishment of the
main crop, particular attention must also be given to
water requirements and water-use characteristics of
the cover crop. Because of the close relationship be-
tween growth rate and water use, cover crop species
that exhibit rapid growth at the time of their destruc-
tion (before planting the following grain crop) will like-
ly reduce soil-water content most. In dry years, this
could create a problem for establishing the grain crop.
In field studies with an early May planting in Ne-
braska (soil temperatures near 10 "C), Gilley et al.
(1989) found that soybean, hairy vetch, crimson clo-
ver, and white clover required 69, 5 1, 136, and 104 d,
respectively, to provide 100% surface ground cover.
In this experiment, at 10 "C it required these same
species 56,77,98, and 98 d after planting, respectively,
to produce 3.0 g dry matter per pot (equivalent to 94-
100%ground cover using equations developed in the
above publication). It is of interest that the time re-
quirement for a given species was similar in both the
field and greenhouse experiments.
These results indicate that if the period during which
the cover crop can be grown is relatively short, annual
legumes would usually be the best species to grow. For
growth periods less than 60 d, fieldpea, fababean, and
soybean perform very well. At warmer temperatures
(at 20 and especially at 30 "C), crimson clover and
even lespedeza may also be good selections. With a
longer period for active growth at 10 "C, performance
of white clover, crimson clover, and hairy vetch usu-
ally would be best. However with warmer tempera-
tures and longer growing periods, soybean and
lespedeza should be considered. Under these condi-
tions, special attention may be given to lespedeza be-
cause of its high water-use efficiency. However,
particular note should be made of soybean in this re-
gard. For every treatment combination studied, soy-
bean was among the top three species in growth and
water-use efficiency.
With the information presented here, a producer
could select potential species to use for a given con-
dition. For corn or sorghum, potential species include
winter annuals as hairy vetch or crimson clover (if
winter kill is not a problem) or early spring annuals
like fababean or fieldpea. For winter grain crops, can-
didate legumes include soybean seeded after wheat
harvest or white clover, lespedeza, or sweetclover seed-
ed in the spring. In all instances, especially with rain-
 WILKERSON ET AL.: HERB-DECISION MODEL FOR WEED CONTROL IN SOYBEAN 413

fed agriculture, special attention must be given to po-

tential water use by the legume.