Winter Annual Legumes for Use as Cover Crops in Row Crops in Northern Regions: II. Frost Resistance Study

Abstract

and Wien (1983) screened turfgrasses and clovers to find less competitive mulches for sweet corn and cabbage. Weed suppression is one of several benefits achieved by includingA third way to avoid or decrease the competition in a cover crop in a cropping system. A requirement for developing cover crop systems is to find species and cultivars which are adapted such systems is to intercrop a main crop and a cover for the local climate and latitude, prevent weed infestation, and do crop with a synchronized onset of maximum vegetative not compete with the main crop. Two experimental series were estabgrowth. This synchronization of cover crop and main lished at three locations in Norway to evaluate the ability of different crop could be achieved in different ways. Mü ller-Schä rer species for use as cover crops in vegetable production. The first series and Potter (1991) concluded that cover plants should of experiments was with subclover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) cultibe seeded to emerge in the middle of the vegetation vars sown at different dates throughout the summer and the second period of the main crop, e.g., in field-planted leek (Alwith different winter annual legume species sown in late summer. lium porrum L.). De Haan et al. (1994) have studied Winter hardiness, life cycle, growth characteristics, and weed suppresthe opposite way to avoid interference problems in sion ability of winter annual legumes sown in the autumn were studied. The experiments showed the following ranking of winter hardiness: cover crop systems in the north central region of the hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth.) (best), black medic (Medicago lupu-USA. They tried to develop a spring seeded smother lina L.), crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.), and subclover plant that had been selected for its ability to suppress (poorest). Time of flowering and senescence, factors related to compeweeds without affecting crop yield. This cover crop flowtition in cover crop systems, showed that subclover was the most ered 3 wk after emergence and began senescence 5 wk promising species followed by crimson clover and hairy vetch-black after emergence (D.L.Wyse, personal communication). medic. The winter annual legume species showed the ability for naturalAnother approach suggested by Ilnicki and Enache reestablishment in the second autumn. Hairy vetch showed the highest (1992) was to use winter annual legumes, e.g., subclover biomass production, the lowest regrowth ability after mowing, and as living mulch. Winter annual legumes sown in late

Establishment and Early Yield Development of Five Possible Alternatives to Trifolium repens as a Grassland Legume

“…Results of only moderate winter tolerance for L. uliginosus have been reported before (Hedqvist, Murphy, & Nilsdotter-Linde, 2002). In line with that, the good winter tolerance found for M. falcata, M. lupulina, T. repens, L. corniculatus and O. viciifolia is in agreement with earlier findings (Frame et al, 1998;Brandsaeter et al, 2000;Hedqvist et al, 2002). This was confirmed by a positive linear correlation between the dry matter yield of legumes in monocultures before and after winter (R²=0.83; P=0.033, L. uliginosus not considered).…”

“…For legumes, the winter period is a crucial and sensitive phase, especially in newly established swards (Brandsaeter, Smeby, Tronsmo, & Netland, 2000). All legumes in monoculture in this study, apart from L. uliginosus, survived the winter period well (Table 4).…”

Living Mulch as a Tool to Control Weeds in Agroecosystems: A Review

“…This synchronization of living mulch and main crop could be achieved in different ways (Brandsaeter and Netland 1999). Muller-Scharer and Potter (1991) concluded that living mulches should be seeded to emerge in the middle of the vegetation period of the main crop.…”

The Effect of Living Mulches on Yield and Quality of Tomato Fruits

“…Leary & De Frank (2000) underline that plant species used as the living mulches should be low competitive to cultivated crop and well adapted to local soil and climatic conditions. Annual legumes, grasses and Brassica species are mostly recommended for this purpose and used in the practice (Nicholson & Wien 1983, Brandsaeter & Netland 1999, Leary & De Frank 2000, Hooks & Johnson 2003.…”