Practice Abstract 21 - Cover crops in vining peas

Short title (native language): 
Cover crops in vining peas

Short summary for practitioners (native language): 
Good soil health and structure are important for growing vining peas. Intensive production can lead to soil structural issues and can lead to microbial communities that contain larger numbers of plant pathogens and less beneficial microbes. One option to improve soil health and structure is the use or cover crops (planted in late summer in between cash crops and grown over winter to provide cover for soils) and catch crops (planted after harvest of cash crop and incorporated in autumn before planting a winter sown cash crop). Generally cover crop treatments retain soil moisture. The crop mixture used in combination with potentially beneficial effects on microbial ecology may explain the positive yield response.
After vining peas, the effect of catch crops on soil health and following winter wheat development has been examined. Samples were taken from plots with preceding cover crops, preceding catch crops and overlapping sections. Catch crop mixes containing buckwheat appeared to depress straw and ear weight in subsequent wheat crops, possibly due to allelopathic effects of buckwheat on competitor seedling germination. Buckwheat has been shown to suppress winter wheat germination given insufficient time between destruction and drilling (Kumar et al. 2011, Weed Science, 59:567–573).
Results indicate that cover crops can improve soil health and structure by reducing soil compaction, reducing nitrogen leaching, improving soil moisture, reducing effects of foot rot pathogens and improving pea yield. Results differ by field site and season trials continue, to increase robustness of observed trends. More information can be found here https://www.pgro.org/veg-ebook-2018/mobile/index.html in the PGRO Vegetable Magazine 2018/19.