Tag Archives: catch crops

355-362 R. Kosteckas and A. Marcinkevičienė
The integrated evaluation of the influence of catch crops and manure on spring barley agrocenosis in organic farming
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The integrated evaluation of the influence of catch crops and manure on spring barley agrocenosis in organic farming

R. Kosteckas and A. Marcinkevičienė

Department of Soil Management, Lithuanian University of Agriculture, Studentu 11,Akademija, Kaunas district, LT–53361, Lithuania, tel. +370 37 752211;e-mail: lzuustotis@hotmail.com

Abstract:

Details of the field experiments which were carried out in the Kazliskiai organic farm from 1999–2001 were needed for our investigations. The integrated evaluation method enabled us to make complex evaluation of the influence of catch crops (red clover, common ryegrass, white mustard and winter rape) for green manure and animal manure on spring barley agrocenosis in organic farming. The variances of the 11 indicators were subdivided into scales of 9 points. The resulting evaluation points were marked in a network diagram. The evaluation threshold, which is equal to 5 points, was also marked. The integrated evaluation index, consisting of the average of evaluation points, its standard deviation and standard deviation of the average of evaluation points which are below the evaluation threshold, was calculated. The influence of red clover for green manure on barley agrocenosis, according to the calculated integrated evaluation indices, is stronger than that of other catch crops and manure.

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181-189 A. Arlauskiene and S. Maiksteniene
Effect of sowing methods on the productivity of catch crops and soil nitrogen leaching
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Effect of sowing methods on the productivity of catch crops and soil nitrogen leaching

A. Arlauskiene and S. Maiksteniene

Joniskelis Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture,Joniskelis, Pasvalys district, LT–39301, Lithuania; e-mail: joniskelio_lzi@post.omnitel.net

Abstract:

The field experiment was carried out at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture’s Joniskelis Experimental Station in clay loam Cambisol from 2003–2005 to identifity the most effective sowing method of catch crops: red clover(Trifolium pratense L.), mixture of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lamk.), and white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) in combination with different straw incorporation methods during the post–harvest period, to control mineral nitrogen content and nitrate leaching. The largest amount of aboveground mass 2.55 t ha-1 of dry matter was produced by undersown red clover with a longer growing season. The largest aboveground mass of aftercrop white mustard was formed in the plots of the treatments in which the seed was sown into stubble–broken soil or direct-sown into the stubble (2.43 and 2.53 t ha-1 of dry matter, respectively). Undersown legume crops during the post–harvest period produced the largest reduction in mineral nitrogen in the soil: red clover – 14.4%, white clover and Italian ryegrass mixture – 16.6%, compared with the treatment without catch crops. After incorporating cereal stubble shallowly at 10–12 cm by stubble-breaker, the contents of mineral nitrogen declined 5.9%, compared with that in the treatment with unbroken stubble. However, after incorporating by a stubble- breaker not only stubble but also straw, and having applied nitrogen fertilizer (N45) for its mineralization,the content of mineral nitrogen increased by 14.9%, compared with the treatment where the plots were stubble–broken without straw. While incorporating straw with the addition of mineral nitrogen fertilizer, 9.5% lower Nmin. content in the soil was found in the treatmentwhere catch crop white mustard was sown as the post–crop. In spring, higher contents of Nmin.in the soil and filtration water were found in the treatments in which nitrogen–rich biomass of legume crops had been incorporated in the autumn. With simultaneous incorporation of straw, nitrate nitrogen content in the soil filtration water declined (9.8%).

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