The place of mixed crops in environment-friendly farming
2001
Lauk, E. | Lauk, R. | Lauringson, E. | Talgre, L. (Estonian Agricultural Univ., Tartu (Estonia). Dept. of Field Crop Husbandry)
This field experiment research, conducted in the experimental fields in Eerika near Tartu, Estonia, on pseudopodzolic soils, showed that cereal-leguminous mixes produce relatively abundant and high-quality crops. In particular, mixed crops are suitable for the farms and agricultural cooperatives that are oriented to organic farming and feed production and have practically abandoned the use of fertilizers. Mixed crops might replace cereal on 1-2 fields of a crop rotation. Cereal-leguminous mixes do not need fertilization with nitrogen, which helps to economize on fertilization and reduce the burden to nature. In a potato-cereal rotation chain, a leguminous-wheat mix might be recommended instead of the cereal, because wheat is the most sensitive among all cereals to the growth environment. The seed mix should contain 300 germinating wheat seeds and 40 germinating vetch seeds per one square meter. In a cereal-cereal rotation chain, a cereal or a winter cereal might be followed by a leguminous-oats mix, since oats is a less sensitive crop and, when coming after a cereal, produces greater yields both as a monoculture and in combination with another crop. A vetch-oats mix might even follow a pea-wheat mix. The seed mix should contain 250 germinating oats seeds and 60 germinating pulse seeds per one square meter. The preliminary results show that mixed crops are able to compete with weeds in the agricultural community. Mixed crops reduced the number of weeds against the backdrop of no crops
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