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Growth of legume and nonlegume catch crops and residual‐N effects in spring barley on coarse sand

2007; Wiley; Volume: 170; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/jpln.200625222

1522-2624

Margrethe Askegaard, Jørgen Eriksen,

Legume Nitrogen Fixing Symbiosis

Abstract The aim of this experiment was to investigate the growth and residual‐nitrogen (‐N) effects of different catch‐crop species on a low–N fertility coarse sandy soil. Six legumes (white clover [ Trifolium repens L.], red clover [ Trifolium pratense L.], Persian clover [ Trifolium resupinatum L.], black medic [ Medicago lupulina L.], kidney vetch [ Anthyllis vulneraria L.], and lupin [ Lupinus angustifolius L.]), four nonlegumes (ryegrass [ Lolium perenne L.], chicory [C ichorium intybus L.], fodder radish [ Raphanus sativus L.], and sorrel [ Rumex Acetósa L.]), and one mixture (rye/hairy vetch [ Secale cereale L./ Vicia villosa L.]) were tested in a field experiment with three replicates in a randomized block design. Four reference treatments without catch crops and with N application (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg N ha –1 ) to a succeeding spring barley were included in the design. Due to their ability to fix N 2 , the legume catch crops had a significantly larger aboveground dry‐matter production and N content in the autumn than the nonlegumes. The autumn N uptake of the nonlegumes was 10–13 kg N ha –1 in shoots and approx. 9 kg ha –1 in the roots. The shoot N content of white clover, black medic, red clover, Persian clover, and kidney vetch was 55–67 kg ha –1 , and the root N content in white clover and kidney vetch was approx. 25 kg ha –1 . The legume catch crops, especially white and red clover, seemed to be valuable N sources for grain production on this soil type and their N fertilizer–replacement values in a following unfertilized spring barley corresponded to 120 and 103 kg N ha –1 , respectively. The N fertilizer–replacement values exceeded the N content of shoots and roots.