Continuous monocropping of silage maize is associated with non-intended impacts on production levels and the environment, such as decreasing soil quality, pressure on biodiversity and groundwater quality and increasing GHG-emissions.
Solution
To counteract these impacts, cover crops are grown in the winter, as a break crop between two maize crops. Using ultra-early maize varieties ensures that these winter crops have more time to grow and increases their positive effects for example to soil quality.
Description
Cover crops have the potential to fix remaining nitrogen from the soil, which can then be released into the soil in the next growing season. Past research showed that the cultivation of a winter-hardy cover crop after silage maize reduced nitrate leaching by up to 60%.
In order to use the comment function, you must register with the third-party provider "Disqus".
When you activate this function, your browser establishes a direct connection with the servers of the third-party provider. We would like to point out that data is transmitted to the third-party provider after activation, and the latter may set cookies that can also be used for analysis and marketing purposes. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.
Disqus
In order to use the comment function, you must register with the third-party provider "Disqus".
When you activate this function, your browser establishes a direct connection with the servers of the third-party provider. We would like to point out that data is transmitted to the third-party provider after activation, and the latter may set cookies that can also be used for analysis and marketing purposes. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.
Activate