COVER CROPS FROM WINTER WHEAT, TRITICALE AND PEAS CULTIVATED IN PURE STANDS AND MIXTURES – SOIL AND WEED SUPPRESSION BENEFITS

Summary

Cover crops had shown a potential to improving carbon sequestration in soil and environmental quality, but
these beneficial effects can be modulated by precipitation conditions. In this paper was evaluated the
effectiveness of three cover crops on soil chemical properties and weed suppression.
The experiments were performed on cambic chernozem soil from NARDI Fundulea Romania in two
contrasting years regarding the amount of precipitation. Three cover crops were studied. The cover crop
consisting of peas + triticale has increased more soil carbon content and infestation with weeds were lower as
compared with cover crop consisting of peas or triticale. The differences concerning carbon sequestration, soil
organic carbon, carbon to nitrogen ratio, weed suppression were influenced also by level of precipitations from
experimental site. Cover crops were slow to impact C/N ratio of soil. In contrast, the floristic composition, and
the degree of weed infestation were very significantly influenced by the composition of the cover crops. The use
of cover crop mixtures offered an additional benefit to weed suppression that of individual cover crops.