Organic broccoli productionon transition soils: Comparing covercrops, tillage and sidedress N

Little information is available about how farmers in transition to organic practices should manage short- and long-term Nfertility. The objectives of this research were (1) to evaluate the leguminous cover crops lablab (Dolichos lablab L.),soybean (Glycine max L.), sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) and a mixture of sunn hemp and cowpea (Vigna sinensis Endl.)as N sources; (2) to compare N availability and broccoli yield when cover crops were incorporated with conventional tillage(CT) or retained as a surface mulch using no-tillage (NT) practices; and (3) to quantify the amount of supplementalsidedress nitrogen required to maximize the yield of organic broccoli (Brassica oleracea Group Italica) on transition soils.Broccoli was grown during the first year after organic transition in the spring and fall of 2006 at the Kentland AgriculturalResearch Farm near Blacksburg, VA. Spring (P < 0.001) and fall (P < 0.001) broccoli yield increased as the rate of sidedressN was increased up to 112 kgNha-1, and showed a quadratic correlation with leaf N (P = <0.001, R2 = 0.80 andP = <0.001, R2 = 0.38, respectively). There was no difference in spring broccoli yield between CT and NT; however, CTproduced the highest yield in the fall crop. At low sidedress N rates, leaf N was highest in CT plots, but tillage had no effecton N uptake at high N rates. This indicates that early season and perhaps total plant-available mineralized N was greater inCT than NT; however, potential N deficiency in NT soil may be compensated by sidedress N. Broccoli yield was notaffected by leguminous cover crop, even though the quantity of cover crop biomass and N contribution was different amongspecies. This suggests that N availability from leguminous cover crops may be impacted by other ecological processes suchas soil microbial activity. This study shows that organic CT and NT growers can maximize broccoli yield in transition soilslow in N availability, by using leguminous cover crops in combination with moderate amounts of sidedress N