Effects of C : N ratio in cut-and-carry green manure and nitrogen application rate in organic potato production

Summary

Potato is a worldwide important staple crop and due to its high value, it is one of the main crops grown in Dutch organic agriculture. However, organic agriculture in The Netherlands is still developing slowly compared to other European countries. Dutch organic farmers are facing a dependency on organic animal manure and often, transport costs make it economically infeasible. Cut -and -carry fertilizer practice, by means of mobile green manure application, reduce s the dependency of farmers to external inputs. However, green manure nutrient composition is influenced by many characteristics like fertilizer regime, botanical composition and mowing time. In this study, we focus on C : N ratio of grass -clover silage and its affects yield and quality of potato tubers. In order to achieve this, a field experiment was carried out applying a mixture of grass -clover green manure to an organic potato crop.