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Summary:The advantage of intercropping is benefi cial biological interactions between crops and their different use of growth resources. Our experiment aimed at investigating the effects of pea intercropping with cereals on the improvement of cereal supply with nitrogen and protein content in grain on a loamy soil in organic farming conditions. It was carried out during 2007-2009 at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture in Dotnuva. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oats (Avena sativa L.), and triticale (x Triticosecale Wittm.) were sown as intercrops 50:50 or as a sole crop. The results obtained during the experimental years showed that the productivity and quality of spring cereal sole crops or intercrops depended on the species of cereals and varied between different year's cultivation conditions. Grain productivity in some cases was estimated to be higher in the intercrops, however it was not stable in three experimental years. The protein content and yield in the grain of cereals grown in intercrops was positively affected by pea intercrops.

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Experiments were constructed to investigate e ects of pea [Pisum sativum L. (Partim)] and spring cereal intercrops on annual weed suppression and grain yield in an organic farming system. Pea, spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Fiori et Paol.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), oat (Avena sativa L.), and triticale (× Triticosecale Wittm.) were sown as sole crops and as intercrops at a 50:50 proportion of grain legume and spring cereal seeds relative to sole crop rates. e density of wheat, oat, and triticale sole crops was signi cantly higher compared with intercrops with pea. All investigated intercrops were signi cantly denser than the sole pea crop. Low height was observed in pea and barley sole crops and intercrops. Mostly weed number and mass were not signi cantly di erent between sole cereal and intercrops. Crop density was more e ected by suppression than weed height. Where crops were sparser, increases in weed density and mass corresponded to a signi cant decline in grain yield. In the peacereal intercrop, where pea accounted for 20.3 to 35.2% of the total plant number, cereals exhibited the greatest weed suppression ability, productive stem number and height being the main factors responsible for this.

Climate change, new varieties, better technological abilities, and increased demand for local resources provide significant reasons to introduce soybeans in northern regions, above the typical soybean distribution area in Europe. This research examined the effects of two delayed sowing times, wide 25 cm and 50 cm row spacings, seed inoculation with Bradyrhizobium japonicum, and the interaction of all these factors on soybean development and productivity in an organic farming system. Length of soybean vegetation varied from 142 to 161 days at latitude 55° N. Yield varied from 673 to 3154 kg ha−1 in response to management factors. In the dry 2015 year, the combination of later sowing dates and wide 50-cm row spacing significantly (p < 0.01) increased the number of pods per plant by 28%, aboveground dry biomass by two times, and seed yield by 36% plant−1. In the wet 2016, yield components reached their highest values of 16.8 g dry biomass, 19.9 pods plant−1 and 7.9 g seeds plant−1 when inoculated soybeans were sown earlier, with 50-cm row spacings. Protein content significantly varied from 27.4 to 35.3%, and fat content 17.4–21.5%. This study suggests that regular soybean development could be maintained in organically managed locations above the present northern soybean distributional region, but its development, productivity, and production quality significantly depends on management practices.