Agronomic Evaluation of Legume Cover Crops for Sustainable Agriculture |
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| Authors: | Giliane?Aparecida?Vicente?da Silva Souza Email author" target="_blank">Tancredo?Augusto?Feitosa?de SouzaEmail author Djail?Santos Elica?Santos?Rios Gilmara?Juliana?de Lima Souza |
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| Institution: | 1.Postgraduate Program in Agronomy, Agrarian Sciences Centre,Federal University of Paraiba,Areia,Brazil;2.Postgraduate Program in Soil Science, Department of Soils and Rural Engineering,Agrarian Sciences Centre,Jo?o Pessoa,Brazil;3.Environmental and Agrarian Science Centre,Paraiba State University,Campina Grande,Brazil |
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| Abstract: | The agronomic characteristics of different legume cover crops and their effects on soil chemical properties were investigated in a short-term field study. We compared weed biomass, nitrogen equivalence, growth rate, leaf chlorophyll content, cover crop biomass, soil total organic carbon, and soil total nitrogen under eight different legume cover crops in a short-term field experiment. We found the highest growth rate, cover crop dry biomass, N plant content, and N contribution with C. ochroleuca plants, whereas for leaf chlorophyll content, soil organic carbon, and total nitrogen the highest values were found with M. pruriens. We did not find any significant difference among C. ochroleuca and M. pruriens for cover crop dry biomass. Our findings suggest that the incorporation of cover crops into the soil can change positively the soil chemical properties, such as soil organic carbon and total nitrogen. Our results also highlight the importance of considering the short-term effect of cover crops on the tropical soil fertility maintenance, in this case, Regosol. |
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