THE EFFECT OF PLANT MULCHES ON SOIL MOISTURE IN VEGETABLE CULTIVATION
Journal Title: ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF POLISH AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITIES - Year 2012, Vol 15, Issue 2
Abstract
Catch crop cultivation and soil mulching offer many benefits pertaining to environment protection, and match well the rules of organic and sustainable agriculture. Soil mulching is also one of the methods which positively influence physical soil properties as well as moisture. A field experiment was conducted over the years 2002–2006. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of plant mulches (phacelia, spring vetch, serradella, oat) incorporated and retained as mulch on the soil surface on soil moisture changes (0–20 cm and 20–40 cm) in red cabbage and onion cultivation. The effect of mulching was compared to an unmulched control. Soil samples were taken after planting of cabbage seedlings, in the period of cabbage head formation and before cabbage harvest, and after sowing onion seeds, in the period of onion formation and before onion harvest. Higher moisture contents of both the upper and lower soil layers at all the dates of sampling in cabbage cultivation were found in the plots whereplant mulches had been ploughed down in the autumn or left on the surface until the end of cabbage growing season, in comparison with the spring-ploughed plots. Phacelia and oat produced more organic matter and, when used as a mulch, they more beneficially influenced soil moisture content compared with serradella and spring vetch. The influence of the above catch crops lasted for the whole growing season of cabbage whereas the effect of oat was noticed even in the following year, after onion planting. Legumes undergo decomposition more rapidly and their mulching effect is much shorter than plants representing other botanical families.
Authors and Affiliations
Anna Zaniewicz-Bajkowska, Edyta Kosterna, Robert Rosa, Jolanta Franczuk
Keywords
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