Maize monoculture systems often cause environmental impacts such as soil erosion, nitrate leaching and pesticide transfer. Conservation tillage and the use of cover crops appear to hold promise for limiting these impacts, but questions about their performance remain, particularly during the transition period after conventional soil tillage ceases. In this study, effects of no-tillage maize and fallow-period management with different cover crop species, either pure or in mixtures, were studied on the agronomic performance of maize and on soil N and water dynamics. The study combined field experiments over three years (2012–2014) and simulation modelling with the STICS model. The biomass of cover crops produced during the fallow period varied from 0.8 to 10.5 t dry matter ha⁻¹ depending on the cover crop species and date of termination. Differences in soil water content were quantified among the treatments studied, with the lowest water content at the beginning of the maize growing season with late termination of a cover crop composed of pure faba bean or a vetch-oat mixture in 2014 (25–50% of plant-water available capacity). Maize grain yields ranged from 8.5 to 13.6 t dry matter ha⁻¹, with the lowest yields in the bare soil treatment. Simulations with STICS were consistent with the observations and indicated a decrease in drainage of 8–38 mm year⁻¹, depending on the year and cover crop. Introducing cover crops into maize systems is a powerful mechanism for maintaining production while improving environmental performances during the transition phase of soil properties in conservation tillage.

玉米单一栽培系统通常会造成环境影响，例如土壤侵蚀、硝酸盐淋溶和农药转移。保护性耕作和覆盖作物的使用似乎有望限制这些影响，但关于其性能的问题仍然存在，特别是在传统土壤耕作停止后的过渡时期。在这项研究中，研究了免耕玉米和休耕期管理与不同覆盖作物物种（无论是纯种还是混合种）对玉米农艺性能以及土壤氮和水分动态的影响。该研究将三年（2012-2014 年）的现场实验和模拟建模与 STICS 模型相结合。休耕期间生产的覆盖作物的生物量从 0.8 到 10.5 吨干物质 ha ^-1取决于覆盖作物种类和终止日期。在研究的处理中，土壤含水量的差异被量化，在玉米生长季节开始时含水量最低，2014 年由纯蚕豆或野豌豆混合物组成的覆盖作物终止较晚（25-50%植物水可用容量）。玉米产量范围为 8.5 至 13.6 吨干物质 ha ^-1，裸土处理的产量最低。STICS 的模拟与观察结果一致，表明排水量减少了 8-38 毫米年^-1，取决于年份和覆盖作物。将覆盖作物引入玉米系统是在保护性耕作的土壤特性过渡阶段维持生产同时改善环境性能的强大机制。