Performance of multispecies cover crops systems for total biomass production and soil quality

Abstract

Cover crops can be very beneficial for the fields for numerus reasons as soil fertility, increase the OM, prevent the soil erosion and increase the weed suppression in the crops, improve biodiversity by increasing the variety of species in a given area. Moreover it can control the amount of water that enters in the downstream ecosystems from erosions. The specific experiment concluded a variety of cover crop species which includes four different group of treatments and sixteen combinations of these treatments. For the specific group of treatments were used the follow species: Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), Faba bean (Vicia faba minor), Forage pea (Pisum sativum ssp. arvense), Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum), Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), Triticale, Oats (Avena sativa). The conclusion of the experiment was that the cover crops provided medium carbon increase and carbon sequestration.