Soil cover crops for curly lettuce cultivation under no-tillage

Abstract

Plant soil covers bring many benefits to the soil, like physical, chemical and biological quality. It may behave differently if kept on the ground or if incorporated. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of cover crops under no-tillage and conventional tillage systems on curly lettuce production. The treatments were in a split plot: three plant coverings in the plot [lupines, black oats, 70% lupines + 30% black oats (consortium)] and in the subplots two cropping systems [no-tillage and conventional tillage (plowing and harrowing)]. The consortium of black oat + lupine in conventional planting produced more than the other treatments and lettuce yield of 69.4 t/ha. The no-tillage in the present study is in its third economic crop cycle and possibly has not yet acquired all the benefits in the soil profile.