Is Pasture Cropping a Valid Weed Management Tool.

Ignacio M Luna,César Fernández-Quintanilla,José Dorado

doi:10.3390/plants9020135

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to study the feasibility of pasture cropping under the Mediterranean conditions prevailing in central Spain and its potential as a weed management tool. Three cropping systems were assessed: conventionally grown winter barley and winter barley in pasture cropping with two perennial summer species, Cynodon dactylon and Eragrostis curvula. The results showed that the growth of these two species in a pasture cropping system was limited by the severe drought conditions and high temperatures present during the summer in some of the study years. Although there were no differences in the establishment of winter barley in any of the treatments assessed, pasture cropping reduced winter barley yields up to 50%–60% in years with low rainfall in spring. Regarding weed control, pasture cropping showed a significant suppression of the total weed density and number of weed species. As a conclusion, pasture cropping can be considered as a valid weed management tool. However, the economic feasibility of this system under the climatic conditions of central Spain (characterized by a high risk of severe summer droughts) is still not clear. The availability of supplemental irrigation may reduce competition between pastures and winter crops and ensure a profitable production of summer pastures.

Highlights

Pasture cropping is a no-tillage technique consisting of sowing annual crops into living perennial pastures during their dormant stage [1,2]
Pasture cropping has been widely promoted in southern Australia, and the term has been used to describe any form of no-till seeding of cereal crops into pastures [5]
No data were recorded for Panicum maximum Jacq. and Brachiaria spp. (B. ruziziensis × B. decumbens × B. brizantha), since these two species were not able to survive the winter temperatures in central Spain

Summary

Introduction

Pasture cropping is a no-tillage technique consisting of sowing annual crops into living perennial pastures during their dormant stage [1,2]. This cropping system combines species with complementary growth periods to diversify the farming systems and improve overall land productivity. The most commonly accepted practice involves establishing summer active perennial pastures that are grazed up to the autumn, when winter cereals are directly drilled in the dormant sod [1,4,6]. As temperatures increase, the pasture resumes growth when the winter cereal is in its final growth stage

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion