A study that was published in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment found that utilizing cover crops could help in reducing the need for tillage, increasing soil fertility, maintaining yield, and managing weed growth problems. (Source: Science.news)
A three-year experiment in Switzerland had researchers studying eight cover crop treatments, which were cultivated for a short two-month period between two winter wheats.
The researchers said that high cover crop biomass production enabled the suppression of weed biomass in all tillage treatments, unlike the no cover crop control.
Wheat grain yield was considerably higher in the minimum tillage rather than in the plough treatment. Wheat yield in the no till treatment, on the other hand, was significantly low, except in the field pea treatments, where wheat yield was the same as that of the yield in the plough and minimum tillage treatments.
These differences in biomass production is indicative of the variations in nutrient inputs and in soil nutrient concentration.
The study further showed that crop cover cultivation could significantly increase soil organic carbon and total nittrogen, particularly in reduced tillage treatments. Furthermore, these findings demonstrated that utilizing a well-developed cover crop, even for just two months, enables the propagation of wheat field in a no till treatment, and affects soil fertility and nutrient cycling.
In conclusion, the research surmised that proper use and management of cover crops, balanced with tillage reduction, is key to yield maintenance and soil fertility improvement in the long term. (MORE)
Source: Natural News
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