Crops influence on Chernozem soil structure Influence of winter cover crops and different spring crops on soil structure indicators on

Abstract

The intensive form of agricultural production often leads to disruption of physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. Therefore, in recent years there has been an increasing focus on research and finding ways to preserve the soil with management practices that support soil conservation. The research was conducted on the experimental field of the Institute for Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad on Rimski Šančevi. The experiment was set up as a randomized block design. The winter cover crops consisted of the combined intercrops: Triticale (×Triticosecale Wittm. ex A. Camus) and winter pea (Pisum sativum ssp. arvense L.) (T+P), solo winter fodder pea crop (Pisum sativum ssp. arvense L.) (P) and a control without winter cover crops (sole or mixtures)(Ø). The experiment with winter cover crops was divided into two blocks. In the first block, the winter cover crops were chopped and plowed, while treatments in the second block were mowed using a rotary mower and the fodder was removed for feeding ruminants. After ploughing and preparing the soil for sowing, sowing of spring crops (soybean, maize and sudan grass) was carried out on all varieties in the subsequent sowing period. This research aims to determine the influence of different types of winter cover crops and spring crops from subsequent sowing period on the physical properties of Chernozem with a special emphasis on soil structure. It was determined that values of MWD on the treatments where the mixture of cover crops (T+P plowed) ranged from 1.11 mm to 1.39 mm, which indicated a better aggregates stability compared to the control treatments where no cover crops were sown. Due to variable root morphology and water requirements, which may alter soil structure, it is required to pay more attention to the adaptation of management strategies through the use of cover crops as well as the selection of their mixes.

Keywords

• cover crop
• soil structure
• soybean
• maize
• sudan grass