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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Weed Suppression, Biomass and Nitrogen Accumulation in Mixed-Species and Single-Species Cover Crops in a Tropical Sugarcane Fallow
Agriculture, Vol.11(7), pp.1-12
08/07/2021
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Source: InCites
Abstract
While mixed-species cover crops are gaining worldwide popularity, their utility in the ‘plough-out’ period in tropical sugar cane systems has not been investigated. Field trials investigating weed suppression (one season only), biomass production and nitrogen accumulation of single-species and mixed-species cover crops were conducted over two seasons on a commercial sugarcane farm in the Australian tropics. Mixed-species cover crops showed strong weed suppression, and were among the top treatments for biomass production each year, but did not yield the highest biomass in either season. Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea cv. Global sunn) produced the most biomass in the drier-than-average 2016–2017 season (>10 t dry matter ha−1), while soybean (Glycine max cv. Leichardt) produced the most biomass (5.3 t dry matter ha−1) in the wetter-than-average 2018–2019 season, highlighting the influence of seasonal conditions on species’ biomass production. The inclusion of multiple species in a short-term cover crop in the tropics where extreme weather events can occur can thus be seen as a risk mitigation strategy given the risk of failure of any given species in a given season.
Details
- Title
- Weed Suppression, Biomass and Nitrogen Accumulation in Mixed-Species and Single-Species Cover Crops in a Tropical Sugarcane Fallow
- Creators
- Lawrence Di Bella - Herbert Cane Productivity Services, 181 Fairford Rd, Ingham, QLD 4850, AustraliaMegan Zahmel - Herbert Cane Productivity Services, 181 Fairford Rd, Ingham, QLD 4850, AustraliaLukas van Zwieten - NSW Department of Industry and Investment, 1243 Bruxner HWY, Wollongbar, NSW 2477, AustraliaTerry J. Rose - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Agriculture, Vol.11(7), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Grant note
- This research was funded by Herbert Cane Productivity Services Limited, Project Catalyst and The Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils, grant number 4.1.002.
- Identifiers
- 991012961497802368
- Copyright
- © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; School of Environment, Science and Engineering; Centre for Organics Research; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article