Application of different cover crops and mineral fertilizer doses for no-till cultivation of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage

Abstract

No-till practices have not been widely adopted by vegetable producers due to the necessity of seedbed preparation to incorporate organic fertilizers and plant residues of the preceding crops. This study evaluated biomass yield and residue decomposition of different cover crops, and their influence on agronomic performance of Brassica crops cultivated under no-till system. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete blocks with 4 x 3 factorial treatment combinations of four cover crops: Sunn hemp (SH), Signal grass (SG), Pearl millet (PM), and SH + PM mixture, and three doses of mineral fertilizer-0, 50, and 100% of the recommended fertilizer doses for broccoli. The same design and treatments were used for cauliflower and then for cabbage, separately.. The experiment was carried out with 4 repetitions on parcels of 20 m 2 . No beds were raised, for the planting of seedlings was done in pits. The following agronomic traits were evaluated: Dry biomass (DB) and decomposition of cover crop residues (DR), and the number of leaves (NL), height (H), fresh head weight (FHW) and dry head weight (DHW), and yield (Y) of Brassica crops. The highest DB occurred in treatments with SH (Give value). SG presented the highest DR constant and the shortest half-life of residues in this study.; Broccoli presented better agronomic performance when cultivated on residues containing SH.; Fertilizer doses influenced broccoli and cabbage productivity, which were the highest for the treatment with 100% dose of mineral fertilizer.

Chemical attributes and microbial activity of soil cultivated with cassava under different cover crops

“…The production of DM by the soil coverages studied are above the averages observed in other studies also conducted in the Brazilian Cerrado biome, ranging from 7 to 12 Mg ha -1 for C. juncea (Torres et al, 2017), 3.8 to 7.2 Mg ha -1 for C. ensiformis (Padovan et al, 2011;Torres et al, 2014) and from 2 to 7.2 Mg ha -1 for the fallow area (Crusciol & Soratto, 2009). The great biomass production observed in this study is probably due to the adequate water availability and temperature that occurred in the region during the study period.…”

Production and Decomposition of Cover Crop Residues and Associations With Soil Organic Fractions

“…In their studies, Assis et al (2016) and Torres et al (2017) observed similar results when using brachiaria, since the rate of decomposition of the brachiaria residues were accelerated when compared to crotalaria and millet, suggesting that it is not only the C/N ratio of plant residues to decisively affect the process of plant residue decomposition. The C/N that these plants feature in monoculture, when compared with cover crop mixtures, may present middle or higher ratios of decomposition, as evidenced in other studies carried out in the same region (Torres et al, 2013;Assis et al, 2016;Pacheco et al, 2013).…”

“…Some other studies evaluating the decomposition of residues of millet, sunn hemp and brachiaria in natural conditions (no artificial irrigation) showed that the greatest rates of decomposition always occur on Fabaceae, and minor in Poaceae (Carvalho et al, 2011;Assis et al 2016;Torres et al, 2015Torres et al, , 2017. These authors also observed that the rates are directly influenced by soil moisture because the decomposition increases in parallel to the increase of water availability that occurs in the rainy period and decrease to minimum values in the dry period (Torres et al, 2008;Pacheco et al, 2017).…”

EFEITO DE QUATRO PLANTAS ANTAGONISTAS NA REDUÇÃO POPULACIONAL DE Meloidogyne javanica

“…A prática de rotação de culturas utilizando plantas antagonistas tem se mostrado eficiente e importante no controle dos nematoides de galhas. Esse método cultural auxilia na melhora das condições físicas, biológicas e químicas do solo,constituindo um aumento da biomassa mantendo uma boa cobertura no solo além de controlar plantas daninhas, doenças e pragas (TORRES et al, 2017). Esse método representa uma das principais ferramentas de manejo dos fitonematoides, pois pode reduzir a população desse organismo no solo, um período de rotação com plantas antagonistas leva os nematoides a não se reproduzirem e permite que fatores naturais de mortalidade reduzam a população (SILVA et al, 2016).…”