Orychophragmus violaceus as a winter cover crop is more conducive to agricultural sustainability than Vicia villosa in cotton-fallow systems
Zhenggui ZhangXiaofei LiShiwu XiongJie AnYingchun HanGuoping WangLu FengYaping LeiBeifang YangFangfang XingMinghua XinWenli DuZhanbiao WangYabing Li
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Abstract:
The current cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fallow farming system causes soil degeneration and cotton yield reduction. Cover cropping is commonly associated with improved soil fertility and crop productivity, while the effect of cover crops on soil quality and cotton productivity remains unclear in the region. Using a monoculture cotton (cotton-fallow) as the control, a field experiment was conducted to verify the impacts of cotton with two cover crops, Orychophragmus violaceus (cotton/O. violaceus) and Vicia villosa (cotton/V. villosa), on soil chemical properties and cotton productivity. The results showed that cotton/O. violaceus increased the soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), and available nitrogen (AN) by 5.77%, 2.03%, and 13.07% compared to cotton-fallow at a 0–100 cm soil depth, respectively. Cotton/O. violaceus developed relatively greater cotton biomass accumulation and higher cotton yield than cotton/V. villosa and cotton-fallow, an immediate cause of which was greater reproductive organ biomass accumulation and a larger number of bolls per unit area. Furthermore, SOM and TN had a significantly positive correlation with cotton biomass and yield. Cotton/O. violaceus were more conducive than cotton/V. villosa and cotton-fallow in the Yellow River basin of China and in other areas with similar requirements.Keywords:
Vicia villosa
Monoculture
Vicia sativa
Abstract Leguminous cover crops used as green manures can reduce fertilizer inputs by supplying nitrogen (N) via mineralization of incorporated N-rich biomass derived from biological N 2 fixation. In a multi-year trial at three locations in Germany, the effects of leguminous, non-leguminous and mixed green manure crops on the yield of the subsequent cash crop white cabbage ( Brassica oleracea convar. capitata var. alba ) were investigated. The winter cover crop treatments were forage rye ( Secale cereale L.), a mixture of forage rye with winter Hungarian vetch ( Vicia pannonica Crantz), sole-cropped winter Hungarian vetch, winter pea ( Pisum sativum L.), and winter faba bean ( Vicia faba L.) with bare soil as a control. Sole-cropped legumes showed higher marketable cabbage head yields (head weight > 1.0 kg) compared to the other cover crop treatments, with 25.5, 25.9 and 28.1 Mg ha − 1 for vetch, pea and faba bean, respectively. The aboveground biomass of the legume winter cover crop treatments had higher N offtakes with 185, 177 and 159 kg N ha − 1 for vetch, pea and faba bean, respectively, with significantly lower carbon (C)/N ratios compared to rye and rye with vetch. The constant C/N ratio of the aboveground biomass of leguminous cover crops throughout the growing period indicates that the optimum incorporation date to achieve high N mineralization rates is less time dependent in leguminous compared to non-leguminous cover crops. The results of the present study show that leguminous winter cover crops do not reduce the soil N availability for a succeeding high N demanding cabbage crop resulting in yields comparable to agricultural practice without winter cover crops.
Vicia villosa
Secale
Vicia sativa
White mustard
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