Forage yield in autumn-sown intercrops of annual legumes and brassicas

Abstract

A small-plot trial has been carried out in the trial years of 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 at the Experimental Field of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops at Rimski Šančevi. It included eight intercrops of autumn-sown brassicas with autumn-sown annual legumes. Two brassicas, fodder kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. viridis L.) cv. Perast and rapeseed (Brassica napus L. var. napus) cv. Zorica were supporting crops for four legumes, pea (Pisum sativum L.) cv. NS Krmni, common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) cv. NS Tisa, Hungarian vetch (Vicia pannonica Crantz) cv. Panonka and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cv. NS Viloza, acting as supported crops. All six cultivars were also sown as sole crops. The highest two-year average individual contribution in the total forage dry matter yield among brassicas was in fodder kale (4.5 t ha-1) when intercropped with Hungarian vetch, while the highest individual contribution in the total forage dry matter yield among legumes was in hairy vetch (6.6 t ha-1) when intercropped with rapeseed. The two-year average values of LERFDMY ranged between 1.05 in the intercrop of fodder kale with common vetch and 1.14 in the intercrop of fodder kale with Hungarian vetch. The autumn-sown intercrops of brassicas with legumes have demonstrated a considerable potential for forage production.