Comparison of soil-N availability in a field cultivated with legume or non-legume plants during the winter in a Mediterranean environment
2019
Karavidas, I. | Yfantopoulos, D. | Ntatsi, G. | Ntanasi, T. | Daras, I. | Tampakaki, A. | Savvas, D.
The aim of the present work was to compare soil N availability for a subsequent crop after conventional or organic production of winter vegetables as compared with no cultivation (fallow) or cultivation with a winter legume used as green manure. For this purpose, a field experiment was conducted at the experimental facilities of the Laboratory of Vegetable Production at the Agricultural University of Athens. The non-legume vegetable was broccoli, and was cultivated by applying organic or conventional farming practices. In the same experimental field, faba bean plants either inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae or non-inoculated were cultivated, while non-cultivated plots were used as control. The farming system had no significant impact on yield of broccoli. However, the shoot fresh and dry weight of faba bean were significantly increased by rhizobia inoculation. The amounts of mineral N contained in the soil shortly before incorporation of faba bean as green manure were higher than that found in the soil of broccoli crops just before harvesting, irrespective of the cropping system. The mineral N found in the soil of broccoli crops at harvesting was as low as in the fallow plots.
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