Perennial forage legume cultivation and their above-ground mass management methods for weed suppression in arable organic cropping systems

Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture

Table 6 The effect of the above-ground mass of perennial forage legumes, used as green manure, on annual weed density, dry weight, and gain yields of winter cereals, Experiment II

Treatments	Winter wheat										Winter triticale
	Perennial swards growth stage (BBCH)						Grain yield				Perennial swards growth stage (BBCH)					Grain yield
	27		75		75		kg ha⁻¹		%		27		75	75		kg ha⁻¹		%
	Density weeds m⁻²				Weight gm⁻² DM		kg ha⁻¹		%		Density weeds m⁻²			Weight gm⁻² DM		kg ha⁻¹		%
Perennial legume and legume- grasses
Fs (control)	39	46		20.7		2384		100		69		54		19.9	2585		100
RC	50	43		18.8		4412**		185		69		62		21.4	2980**		115
Fs + RC	47	47		19.0		3694**		155		64		57		21.4	3000**		116
L	55**	53		20.8		4104**		172		72		64		23.3	3067**		119
L + Fs	44	43		16.7		3604**		151		62		62		26.2	2781		108
Statistics of ANOVA (p)	< 0.01	< 0.01		n.s		< 0.01				n.s		< 0.05		n.s	< 0.01
Management methods of above-ground biomass
Removal from field (control)	49	50		21.0		3410		100		71		62		20.3	2712		100
Mixed	45	44		18.4		3646		107		69		58		22.0	2840		105
Mulching	46	45		18.3		3864**		113		62*		59		25.0	3096*		114
Statistics of ANOVA (p)	n.s	< 0.01		n.s		< 0.01				< 0.05		n.s		n.s	< 0.05

Fs festulolium, RC red clover, L Lucerne, RC + Fs mixture of red clover and festulolium, L + Fs mixture lucerne and festulolium, K control
Values in italic and followed by * or ** are significantly different than the control according to other variant at p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively. n.s. indicate significant differences