Narrow-leaved lupine as an N source alternative to grass-clover swards in organic vegetable rotations
- authored by
- Kai Uwe Katroschan, Hartmut Stützel
- Abstract
Legumes represent an important N source in organic vegetable rotations. Since the amount of N2 fixed as well as N mineralisation from legume biomass are highly variable, N availability does often not match the requirements of following crops. The production of grain legume seeds followed by their temporary storage and application as N fertilizer may represent a flexible and controllable alternative to traditional legume green manures. In two field experiments, narrow-leaved lupine was investigated as N source for subsequent white cabbage and beetroot and was compared to two grass-clover treatments, in which cut herbage was either removed from the sward or remained as mulch. Symbiotic N2 fixation was highest for cut grass-clover, averaging about 350 kg ha−1. Mulching reduced N2 fixation by on average 57%. Lupine N2 fixation was largely comparable to that of mulched grass-clover swards. Net N mineralisation from grass-clover residues within the year of their incorporation was positively related to the percentage of clover (R2 = 0.93). Application of coarsely milled lupine seeds on plots previously cropped with lupines resulted in an N supply for cabbage being higher or equal to that after mulched grass-clover. Residual effects on the N supply for beetroot, grown in the third rotational year following white cabbage, averaged −2 and 28 kg N ha−1 for lupine and grass-clover, respectively. In conclusion, lupines may provide a highly flexible N source alternative to frequently mulched grass-clover swards. Further attention should be directed towards the utilization of cut forage legume herbage as mobile N source.
- Organisation(s)
-
Institute of Horticultural Production Systems
- External Organisation(s)
-
State Institute for Agriculture and Fishing Research Mecklenburg Vorpommern
- Type
- Article
- Journal
- Biological Agriculture and Horticulture
- Volume
- 33
- Pages
- 125-142
- No. of pages
- 18
- ISSN
- 0144-8765
- Publication date
- 2017
- Publication status
- Published
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agronomy and Crop Science, Horticulture
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
- Electronic version(s)
-
https://doi.org/10.1080/01448765.2017.1285250 (Access:
Closed)
