Organic farming has been identified as promoting soil quality even though tillage is used for weed suppression. Adopting zero tillage and other conservation tillage practices can enhance soil quality in cropping systems where synthetic agri-chemicals are relied on for crop nutrition and weed control. Attempts have been made to eliminate tillage completely when growing several field crops organi...

Introduction Conservation tillage systems using sweep plows or field cultivators leave a high percentage of crop residues on the soil surface, which protects the soil from wind and water erosion (Johnson, 1950; Jones and Johnson, 1982; Allen and Fenster, 1986; Johnson et al., 1974). These systems have been successful in semiarid areas because meager rainfall after plowing does not allow weeds t...

In recent years, cases of botulism in cattle and other farm animals and also in farmers increased dramatically. It was proposed, that these cases could be affiliated with the spreading of compost or other organic manures contaminated with Clostridium botulinum spores on farm land. Thus, soils and fodder plants and finally farm animals could be contaminated. Therefore, the colonization behavior ...

VASILEVA, V., E. VASILEV and R. TZONEV, 2016. Subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) as a promising forage species in Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 222–227 The paper presents an overview of the possibility to use the subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) (an annual leguminous self-seeding species, widespread component in the pastures of the temperate areas of Central an...

The bioavailability and fractionation of Cu reflect its deliverability in soil. Little research has investigated Cu supply to crops in soil under long-term rotation and fertilisation on the Loess Plateau. A field experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design to determine the bioavailability and distribution of Cu fractions in a Heilu soil (Calcaric Regosol) after 18 years of rota...

in order to evaluate radiation capture and use efficiency and productivity in sole and intercropping of three crops, rapeseed (brassica napus l.), bean (phaseolus vulgaris l.) and corn (zea mays l.), an experiment was conducted in mashhad region during the growing season of 2007-2008. in this study six treatments including three sole cropping of the crops (rapeseed sown in 22 september 2007, co...

Effective and sustainable weed management in agricultural fields is a prerequisite for increasing crop yield without negatively impacting the environment. The aim of this study was to explore how varying nitrogen (N) availability cropping arrangements pea (Pisum sativum) barley (Hordeum vulgare) grown as sole crops intercrops at different fertilization levels considering N sources (soil mineral...

Cover plants can be introduced in cropping systems to provide agroecosystem services, including weed control via competition for resources. There is currently no consensus on how to identify the best cover plant species, while trait-based approaches are promising for screening plant species due to their agroecosystem service provision potential. This study was carried out to characterize soil e...