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Title: COVER CROP MONOCULTURES VS. MIXTURES

Author
item Abdul Baki, Aref

Submitted to: American Vegetable Grower
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2003
Publication Date: 3/1/2004
Citation: Abdul Baki, A.A. 2004. Cover crop monocultures vs. mixtures. American Vegetable Grower. p. 52

Interpretive Summary: The article describes how a mixture of two or more cover crop species do better than one single cover crop in terms of improving soil fertility and reducing erosion and loss of nutrients from the soil. Users of this knowledge are vegetable and fruit growers as well as crop producers.

Technical Abstract: Cover crop mixtures have several advantages over monocultures. When the mixture is selected to include a legume and a grassy species, among the advantages are more biomass, less soil erosion, and less nutrients (including nitrogen)are lost through runoff or leaching. Other benefits include extended breakdown of the residue allowing better use efficiency of released nutrients and better weed suppression. As a result of these benefits, the soil maintains high fertility.