Abstract
Reducing tillage intensity and increasing crop diversity by including perennial legumes is an agrotechnical practice that strongly affects the soil environment. Strip tillage may be beneficial in the forage legume–cereals intercropping system due to more efficient utilization of biological nitrogen. Field experiments were conducted on a clay loam Cambisol to determine the effect of forage legume–winter wheat strip tillage intercropping on soil nitrate nitrogen (N-NO3) content and cereal productivity in various sequences of rotation in organic production systems. Forage legumes (Medicago lupulina L., Trifolium repens L., T. alexandrinum L.) grown in pure and forage legume–winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) strip tillage intercrops were studied. Conventional deep inversion tillage was compared to strip tillage. Nitrogen supply to winter wheat was assessed by the change in soil nitrate nitrogen content (N-NO3) and total N accumulation in yield (grain and straw). Conventional tillage was found to significantly increase N-NO3 content while cultivating winter wheat after forage legumes in late autumn (0–30 cm layer), after growth resumption in spring (30–60 cm), and in autumn after harvesting (30–60 cm). Soil N-NO3 content did not differ significantly between winter wheat strip sown in perennial legumes or oat stubble. Winter wheat grain yields increased with increasing N-NO3 content in soil. The grain yield was not significantly different when comparing winter wheat–forage legume strip intercropping (without mulching) to strip sowing in oat stubble. In forage legume–winter wheat strip intercropping, N release from legumes was weak and did not meet wheat nitrogen requirements.
Highlights
Crop rotation diversification using legumes has been advocated as one of the solutions to improve crop system resilience to multiple environmental stresses and use of nitrogen (N) resources [1,2]
Having ploughed in Black medick (BM), White clover (WC), and Egyptian clover (EC) prior to winter wheat sowing, N-NO3 content in the 0–30 cm soil layer was significantly higher than when compared to sowing after oats (CTS) and STS had been used after oats
Nitrate N concentration was higher by 2.2 times in winter wheat grown after ploughing in BM, 2.1 times after WC, and 68.8% after EC compared to winter wheat sowing after oats (CTS)
Summary
Crop rotation diversification using legumes has been advocated as one of the solutions to improve crop system resilience to multiple environmental stresses and use of nitrogen (N) resources [1,2]. The cultivation of perennial forage legumes in arable organic farming has shown encouraging results [3]. Their cultivation often is limited by biological and economic factors. In order to increase commercial production, various practices involving intercropping forage legumes with main crops can be applied (as service crops). The advantages of intercropping include higher overall productivity, better control of pathogens and pests, strengthening of ecological services, and higher profitability of the crop [6]. Much research has been done on intercropping forage legumes with cereals for short periods (a year) [1,7]. When trying to keep forage legumes for a longer period and resowing cereals, farmers face problems related to sowing cereals and managing the competitiveness of plants [8]
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