ISHS Acta Horticulturae 571: Workshop Towards and Ecologically Sound Fertilisation in Field Vegetable Production
COVER PLANTS IN LEEK PRODUCTION AND THEIR RESIDUAL EFFECTS ON CABBAGE YIELDS |
| Authors: | E. Kolota, K. Adamczewska-Sowinska |
| Keywords: | leek (Allium ampeloprasum ssp. porrum J. Gay), cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L.), living mulches, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), white clover (Trifolium repens L.), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) |
| Abstract:
A field study was conducted to evaluate the impact of cover crops on yields of leeks and on white cabbage grown as successive crop. Leek cv. Arkansas was grown from seedlings planted in 10 June with spacing 50 cm x 15 cm. Perennial ryegrass, white clover and hairy vetch were sown as the living mulches between plant rows after 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 weeks from the date of transplanting. After harvest of leeks in the last ten days of October, the whole biomass of living mulches was incorporated into the soil by ploughing. In the following year its residual effect on the yield of cabbage was evaluated. The first two sowings of living mulches considerably reduced the marketable yield of leeks by up to 45.1%. Significantly better results were obtained in treatments when was sowing delayed until 7 or 9 weeks after transplanting, in which case the yield reached 78.5-80.7% of that in the control. Cover crops from the last time of sowing did not adversely affect the plant growth and yield of leek. In the following year a positive residual effect of hairy vetch on cabbage growth was observed. Treatments with perennial ryegrass residues produced similar, while white clover lower yield of cabbage than farmyard manure applied at the dose of 30 t/ha. | |
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