Weed suppression and nitrogen supply by white clover [Trifolium repens] living mulch in forage corn [Zea mays]
2006
Uozmi, S.(National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, Morioka (Japan)) | Deguchi, S. | Tanaka, O. | Kawamoto, H.
Field experiments were conducted from 2001 to 2005 at the National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, Morioka Japan to evaluate the efficacy of white clover living mulch on weed control and soil nitrogen fertility improvement in no-herbicide silage corn production. A thick sod of white clover, which had been sown in August and established by late September, prevented the dominance of winter annual weeds in the seeding bed of corn until late May when the corn was sod-seeded. The white clover mowed for the sod-seeding of the corn regrew rapidly and suppressed summer weeds without depressing corn growth. Consequently, the no-herbicide living mulch system produced corn yields of 17.6-17.9 t DM hasup(-1), which did not differ from those from the conventional tillage. The white clover living mulch system improved soil nitrogen fertility, which resulted in higher N uptakes of corn and the succeeding crop of triticale by up to 61 and 42kgNhasup(-1), respectively, than those from the non-living-mulch system. The results suggest that the white clover living mulch system has the potential to control weeds and improve soil fertility, both of which can be useful for the low-input production of silage corn.
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