Cover Crops and Nitrogen Fertilization in Maize on the Productive Performance of Crop

Abstract

Abstract The use of conservation practices for sustainable agriculture production has grown in the last decades, mainly due to the no-tillage and the cover crops. The aim was to evaluate the productive performance of phytomass in three crop years with the effect of different winter cover crops and nitrogen (N) rates in succession maize. The study was carried out at the Federal Technological University of Paraná, in Dois Vizinhos, between 2020 and 2023, in a long-term experiment (2010). The treatments were a combination of three N rates applied to maize and eight winter cover crops. The annual cropping systems were buckwheat-winter cover crops-maize. The dry phytomass of buckwheat showed a significant difference between the residual N rates, but no difference to the cover crops. For the winter cover crops, mix and single oats showed a higher phytomass production, especially oats+vetch+radish, while common vetch had a lower production. Phytomass of maize was responsive to N addition, regardless of crop year; however, in a dry weather year, the cover crops showed no difference. Cumulative annual phytomass ranged from 10 to 28.6 Mg ha¯1 and was related to the N rate and the winter crop. Maize grain yield was higher after vetch and lupine and with N fertilization. Therefore, winter cover crops and N fertilization can contribute to the productive development of all the crops in the cropping system.

Keywords

• Buckwheat
• Dry phytomass
• Straw
• No-tillage