Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1:
Example showing utilization of a mixture of legume and non-legume cover
crops for green fertilization. (A) Autumn wheat: no till direct sowing onto a cover crop
mixture of radish with berseem (
Trifolium alexandrinum
), simultaneously with a frontal
crushing of the two cover crops. Note that on top of providing N for wheat growth, the use
of crushing simultaneously to sowing, avoids the utilization of herbicides that are often
used in direct seeding culture systems to remove the cover crop. (B) Close-up view of
the cover crop mixture composed of radish (r) and berseem (b). (C) Close-up view of the
radish root system used as a cover crop. (D) View of the wheat culture in winter after direct
sowing and simultaneous crushing of the cover crops. (E) Close-up view of the wheat
culture showing the presence of residual crushed cover crop that provides organic N to the
soil, thus avoiding the requirement for additional mineral N fertilization.
