Abstract
The field experiment was carried out at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (Lithuania) in 2017–2019. The aim of the study was to determine and to compare weed spread and caraway crop productivity in sole (spring barley, spring wheat, pea, caraway), binary (spring barley-caraway, spring wheat-caraway, pea-caraway) and trinary (spring barley-caraway-white clover, spring wheat-caraway-white clover, pea-caraway-white clover) crops. In the second and the third years of caraway cultivation, it was estimated that the abundance of perennial weeds in the crops increased. In the first year, significantly the highest dry matter mass of weeds was determined in non-sprayed with herbicides binary crops with undersown caraway and in trinary crops with undersown caraway and clover; in the second year—in the caraway binary crops, when they were grown after barley and wheat without clover; in the third year—in caraway binary and trinary crops when they were grown after barley, wheat and pea without clover and after barley and wheat with clover. In the second year, the highest yields of caraway seeds were obtained by growing them in peas, and in the third year by growing them in wheat together with clover. Caraway can be grown in trinary crops, including white clover, and harvested in the second or the third year of the vegetative season.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Growing caraway in a multi-cropping system is beneficial because it increases the productivity and reduces the prevalence of weeds
The success of this strategy is based on the fact that the same herbicides are suitable for weed control in both pea and caraway crops
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Food production for a rapidly growing human population is constantly posing a huge challenge to agriculture. Rising production costs, deteriorating soil quality and health, and the spread and abundance of pests, diseases, and weeds threaten the ecological and economic sustainability of crop production. To address these challenges, multi-cropping systems could increase the overall production and diversity of products, stabilize the yield over growing seasons, and reduce the economic and environmental risks associated with sole-cropping systems— increasing sustainability [1]
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