Effect of legume and legume-festulolium mixture and their mulches on cereal yield and soil quality in organic farming

ABSTRACT

Research was conducted to determine the effects of perennial legume and their mulches on cereal grain yield and the alterations to clay loam Cambisol properties. The perennial legumes (Trifolium pratense L., Medicago sativa L.) as well as their mixtures with festulolium (x Festulolium) were studied in conjunction with their aboveground biomass management methods: removal from the field (cut twice for forage), mixed management (the first cut was for forage, the second and third cuts were mulched) and mulching (four times) in an organic arable farming system. Mulching of legumes biomass resulted in a higher total nitrogen (N) used for green manure. A similar amount of N was accumulated for lucerne and lucerne-festulolium mulch when using mulching and mixed management. Legumes used for mulching caused the amount of mineral N in soil to increase in late autumn (62.7–82.9 kg ha^–1) and decrease in spring (39.5–64.0 kg ha^–1). This mineral N had a positive impact on crop yield (r = 0.68–0.71*); however, mineral N in autumn had a negative impact on soil sustainable organic compounds (r = −0.71*). The results indicate that the most suitable treatment was the legume-festulolium mixture, which used the biomass under mixed management.

KEYWORDS:

• Decomposition indicators
• mineral N
• mobile humic substances
• red clover
• winter wheat and triticale

Acknowledgements

This work was part of the long-term research programme “Biopotential and quality of plants for multifunctional use“ implemented by the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.