PlantyOrganic; Results 2014

Summary

2014 was the third year of the "Planty Organic" system development in practice. The six-year rotation is laid out and measurements took place at soil and crop. The fertilizers used were completely produced in the own system, as foreseen in the system design. The nitrogen fixation by the grass clover, the motor of the system, did not meet the expected levels. The amounts of nitrogen applied were therefore about 20% lower than foreseen in the design. Soil nitrogen is measured and used as input in the nitrogen model NDICEA. There was a sufficient match between measured and calculated level of soil mineral nitrogen, with exception of the cereals where measured values of soil mineral nitrogen were consistently lower than the calculated levels. This showed also in the field, where the cereals appeared to suffer from a lack of nitrogen, as was the case in 2013. The wheat, rye and to a certain extent also pumpkins gave disappointing yields because of a shortage of nitrogen. Carrots and potatoes performed well. Because of a high weed pressure no clovers were undersown in the cereals. After the harvest a leguminous green manure crop was sown. Because of wet weather circumstances in autumn no green manure crop was sown after carrots and pumpkins. Mineral contents of the crops potatoes, carrots and wheat seem to decrease in the course of the first three years of the Planty Organic rotation. Further research into the background of this decrease is recommended.