1. Effect of cover crops integration in crop rotation on the yield and chemical composition of edible parts of vegetables grown in an organic system in high tunnel.
- Author
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Siwek, Piotr, Bucki, Piotr, Domagała-Świątkiewicz, Iwona, and Lalewicz, Paulina
- Subjects
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VEGETABLE farming , *COVER crops , *GREEN manure crops , *CHEMICAL yield , *CROP yields , *CROP rotation , *RUTABAGA - Abstract
• Green manures are recommended for organic management of plants in high tunnel. • Rotary tillage, especially with fresh biomass mulch, has a positive effect on the yield of vegetable plants in high tunnel. • Ambiguous effect of green manures on the chemical composition of edible parts of vegetables was observed. Tunnel production is well suited to growing high-value crops, such as organic vegetables or fruits. Effects of cover crops integration into crop rotations were evaluated in an organic system in a high tunnel. In the research conducted at the Experimental Station of the University of Agriculture in Krakow, turnip and swede (rutabaga) sown in 2018, and phacelia and buckwheat, sown in 2020 in the second cycle, were used as green manure. The vegetable crop rotation included successive cultivation of pumpkin, romaine lettuce, broad bean, hot pepper (2018–2019), and leek and leaf parsley (2020–2021). The control was a plot without plants sown for green manure, covered with black polyethylene film during their cultivation. The effect of green manures on yielding and chemical composition of edible parts of vegetable plants was studied. The beneficial effect of turnip and swede was noticeable only in the autumn cultivation of romaine lettuce. The obtained yield was 63,3 % average higher. The significant effect on the yield of early broad bean was also shown. Grain yield was with 90,9 % higher in case of turnip and higher with 59,1 % in case of rutabaga than in the control plot. This trend was also observed in the cultivation of hot pepper. Its yield after rutabaga was with 189 % higher, and it was 102 % as high after the preceding crop of turnip compared to the control. Whole-plant of leeks yield, was higher (15,8 %) on the phacelia treatment in comparison with control. The total yield of parsley leaves was significantly higher in the plot following phacelia and buckwheat compared to the control (197 % in average). In general, the chemical composition evaluation did not find a clear impact of green manures. However, leeks grown in the control plot had the highest dry matter and vitamin C content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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