Abstract
The benefits of conservation practices increased the interest of farmers in the cultivation of cover crops (CCs). This review aims to present and analyze the state of the art on the cultivation of legume CCs, including their importance in protecting crops against weeds, as well as their effects on organic matter and nitrogen content in the soil, physical and biological properties of the soil, and its erosion. The multi-purpose character of legume CCs is visible in their positive effect on reducing weed infestation, but also on the soil: reducing its compaction and erosion, improving its structural and hydraulic properties, increasing the content of organic matter and activity of soil microorganisms, or increasing its nitrogen content due to symbiotic N2 fixing. This review demonstrates that a wider use of legume CCs in organic farming is needed. The benefits of legume CCs for successive crops in these cultivation conditions, both in terms of inhibiting weed populations and improving fertility and soil properties, also need to be identified. Further research is also needed to determine the potential impact of legume CCs on the improvement of the quality of degraded soils, or those with less favorable physicochemical properties.
Highlights
More and more attention is paid to production systems based on managing natural resources in such a way as to ensure that the needs of contemporary and future generations are met.This trend fits well with conservation agriculture, which aims to protect, improve and more efficiently use natural resources through the integrated management of soil, water, and biological resources, in combination with external inputs
Due to the large amount of post-harvest residues and root secretions, Fabaceae cover crops (CCs) increase the amount of carbon and nitrogen compounds introduced into the soil, which is the main source of energy for soil microorganisms [179]
The negative influence of legume CCs as living mulch in the cultivation of the main crops is reported by Thorsted et al [148] and Martens et al [252] according to whom the competition between the legume CCs (T. repens, T. pratense) and a crop (T. aestivum) is decisive in terms of water availability in soil, apart from environmental conditions
Summary
More and more attention is paid to production systems based on managing natural resources in such a way as to ensure that the needs of contemporary and future generations are met This trend fits well with conservation agriculture, which aims to protect, improve and more efficiently use natural resources through the integrated management of soil, water, and biological resources, in combination with external inputs. Species used as CCs plants should produce a lot of biomass, which is important for uniform coverage of the soil surface Their C:N ratio should be balanced, and they should be resistant to rapid decomposition, protecting the soil, even from the early stages of growth and development of the main crop [14,15]. This review aims to present and analyze the state of the art on the cultivation of legume Ccs, including their importance in protecting crops against weeds, their effect on organic matter and nitrogen content in the soil, as well as physical and biological properties of the soil, and its erosion
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