Periods without plant cover between cash crops increase the risk of N-leaching, weed development and soil erosion. This is especially true on sandy soils, where these effects can cause significant environmental and economic problems. In addition to this, these periods often provide low or no organic matter availability on the soil surface, resulting in a lack of nutrition for soil life, leading to the degradation of soil quality.
Solution
To avoid erosion during the summer period as well as guaranteeing nutrition to soil life, the implementation of fast-growing cover crops is recommended.
Description
Fast growing cover crops, even in the available short period, stabilise cash crop yields by adding organic matter to the rooted zone of the soil, increasing soil water infiltration. The crop cover also protects the soil from direct sun radiation, reducing surface temperatures drastically. At the same time, we can secure left-over nitrogen from the previous crop in different rootingzones by using mixtures of cover crops with diverse rooting systems, as well as gaining the protective value of plant vegetative and residue cover for controlling soil erosion [CLARK, 2008].
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