Abstract
The cultivation of cover crops under no-tillage systems can promote positive improvements in soil attributes and promote increases in grain yield of successor crops, such as soybeans. The aim of this work was to evaluate the evolution of soil cover and accumulation of dry shoot phytomass of autumn/winter cover crops and their impact on the agronomic performance of soybean grown in succession. Black oats (Avena strigosa), rye (Secale cereale) and turnip (Raphanus sativus) were used as cover species in single crops, dual and triple intercropping, in addition to the fallow and weeded controls. The percentage of soil cover (%) and the accumulation of dry shoot phytomass were evaluated at 30, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 105 days after sowing (DAS). In soybean crop, plant height, number of productive nodes per plant, number of pods per plant, mass of a thousand grains and grain yield were evaluated. The cultivation of turnip single provided the fastest soil coverage, with 90.0% at 45 DAS. The intercropping between rye + turnip provided the largest accumulations of dry shoot phytomass, greater than 7.0 Mg ha-1 at 105 DAS. The highest soybean yields were obtained in succession to the cultivation of black oat and rye in single, yielding approximately 3,300 kg ha-1, 50% higher compared to fallow and weeded treatments.
Highlights
No-Tillage System (NTS) is a conservation management of the soil used in a large part of the Brazilian territory
Through the meteorological data obtained in the meteorological station of the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Rural do Paraná (IDR) and water demand for soybean crops, it was possible to calculate the water balance for the experimental year, with the help of the spreadsheet developed by Rolim, Sentelhas and Barbieri (1998) (Figure 1)
Evolution of soil cover provided by cover crops The average values of the percentage of soil cover provided by the cover crops are shown in Table 1 and Figure 2
Summary
No-Tillage System (NTS) is a conservation management of the soil used in a large part of the Brazilian territory. In the warmer region of southern Brazil, such as northern Paraná, what has been noted is the repetition of soybean cultivation followed by corn in the second harvest In colder regions, such as Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Southern Paraná, the cultivation of soybean in the summer and wheat in the winter dominates the areas. These successive and repeated crops negatively impact the yield potential of the crops and the profitability of properties in the medium and long term (Canalli, et al, 2020), since there is a low diversity of species that can provide a greater contribution and diversification of straw and roots. The use of cover crops is necessary, either in rotation or even in intercropping with crops of economic interest
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