Summary
Integrating cover crops (CCs) into crop rotations has gained interest in the Southeastern United States due to the benefits that CCs offer, which improve soil health for agricultural production. However, more information is needed on how CCs may affect the development of soil water repellency (SWR), which can negatively impact soil hydrology. The development of SWR threatens crop yields, food security, and farmer livelihoods. To address this knowledge gap, a field experiment measured the water repellency (WR) of four common CC species and a fallow treatment. CC samples were oven-dried, ground, and analyzed for WR using the water drop penetration time (WDPT) test. The mean WDPTs of the CC residues collected at termination and four weeks post-termination ranged from 49 to 4174 and 8 to 2627
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