Associating wheat crop and undersown forage legumes in organic agriculture: Incidence of forage legumes species

Summary

One of the key issues of organic arable systems is to increase use of N2 fixation from legume plants while enhancing autonomy by the limitation of off-farm inputs. Wheat yield in organic agriculture is generally low and variable. Grain yield and protein content are strongly affected by N deficiency and weed competition (Casagrande et al., 2009). Previous research had clearly demonstrated the benefits of forage legumes to improve N balance and preserve weed infestation (den Hollander et al., 2007). Several authors highlighted the interest of crop mixtures combining cereal and legumes to provide higher overall productivity, enhance ecological services and improve economical profitability (Malezieux et al., 2008). Nevertheless, previous research also highlights how important it is to manage whether above- and belowground interactions between species to optimise benefits and limit competition. We propose here to analyse how the insertion of legumes species influences the performance of organic wheat (yield, grain protein content) but also the weeds population during and after crop cycle.