Post-harvest residues of field pea/spring rye mixtures as a valuable source of biological nitrogen for winter triticale

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of the work was to determine the effect of the post-harvest residue biomass of field pea, spring rye and their mixtures on mineral nitrogen content in the soil profile after the forecrop harvest, as well as the yield and quantity of nitrogen accumulated in winter triticale grain. An experiment was conducted to examine the following two factors: (I) forecrop – mixtures: field pea – pure stand 100%, spring rye – pure stand 100%, field pea 75% + spring rye 25%, field pea 50% + spring rye 50%, field pea 25% + spring rye 75%; (II) forecrop harvest date: field pea flowering stage, field pea green pod stage. The results revealed that the lowest mineral nitrogen content in after harvesting spring rye in the flat green pod phase in the soil layer 0–30 cm and 30–60 cm respectively 2.36 and 1.41 mg kg−1 soil. Also, mineral nitrogen content was low in the 0–30 and 30–60 cm soil layers following field pea/spring rye mixtures, in particular the mixture containing 25 + 75% of the respective components. Winter triticale cultivation after field pea/spring rye mixtures harvested at the stage of field pea flat green pod contributes to high grain yield.