Influence of annual green manure crops in mixed crops on agrophysical properties of soil plough-layer and potato yield

Abstract

Influence of annual green manure crops in mixed crops on agrophysical properties of soil plough-layer and
potato yield. N.M. SHALAGINA (Kamchatka Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture, Kamchatsky Krai, Yelizovsky District, Sosnovka village).

The positive influence of two-component green manure mixtures on agrophysical soil properties in Kamchatka and on potato yield is revealed. Applying spring rape in combination with oat and spring vetch increased the productivity of aboveground mass and root-crop residues as compared to the one-species rape planting by 70.20 % on average or by 16.94 t/ha as compared to the one-species rape planting. A combination of a white mustard with an oilseed radish contributed to an increase in biomass compared to a single-wheat sowing of the white mustard by 14.82 t/ha (46.9 %), the total biomass made up 46.43 t/ha. Overall mix of annual green manure crops in various combinations provided an accumulation of raw biomass in the plough layer to 33.67–57.58 t/ha. The most effective was a mixture of an oilseed radish and a spring vetch – harvest biomass reached 57.58 t/ha. The analysis revealed that the nitrogen content in twocomponent green-manured mixtures was 12.49 kg/ha (10.6 %) – 73.17 kg/ha (118.5 %) more than in one-component green-manured mixtures. The highest nitrogen content was observed in green manure mixtures with a spring vetch. The
amount of phosphorus in two-component mixtures was higher than in single – species crops by 23.89–72.84 kg/ha or by 22.42–68.36 %. Two-component green manure mixtures of a spring rape with an oat and a spring vetch in the background (NPK)90 in a direct influence significantly increased the yield of potatoes: the increase compared to a single-rape sowing amounted to 3.83 t/ha (27.8 %) and 4.55 t/ha (33.0 %). Two-component green manure mixtures improved the physical properties of the soil (the content of macroaggregates reached 77.0–78.5 % and the density – 0.66 g/cm3 – there was some loosening of the plow layer under the influence of the root system of green manure).