The influence of winter cover crops on yield and yield components of maize

Abstract

As a consequence of the absence of livestock production and animal manure, significant increase in input prices, especially mineral fertilizers, there is a growing need to find alternative ways of fertilization in modern agricultural production of field crops. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of cover crops (CC) and interactians on yield and yield components of maize in the semi arid conditions. Research was carried out in the production years 2020 at the Rimski Sanéevi experimental station of the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad. The winter CC consisted of the combined intercrops: winter pea (Pisum sativum ssp. Arvense L.) + triticale (Triticosecale) (PT) and single-species CC winter pea (P) and control without CC (C), all with nitrogen fertilization 50 kg ha-1 (N50) and without the use of fertilizer (NO). The sowing of winter CC was carried out in autumn in the first decade of November, and their mulching and plowing was done in the last week of May. After plowing and soil preparation, maize (NS4051) was sown in the first decade of June and harvested in October. The statistical significance (p<0.05) was found between different variants regarding the use of CC. The highest yield was achieved in a mixture of PT (NO) 8.54 t ha-1. Using CC as a green manure it is possible to provide plants with a certain amount of nutrients which would lead to a reduction of inputs with possible lower production costs.