Abstract
Cover crops, usually grown under conservation agriculture, may offer numerous benefits depending on the farming system. In this study the authors investigated residue decomposition, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) release from mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) and sunhemp (Crotalaria juncea) as well as their uptake by maize in a farming system common in smallholder farms in South Africa. This was done through litterbag, laboratory incubation, and field studies. Sunhemp stems had 65% dry weight remaining after 132 days while just over 10% of mucuna and sunhemp leaves remained. There was no mineral contribution to maize growth by cover crops. However, in incubation studies, mucuna mineralized 60 mg N kg−1 and 3.2 mg P kg−1 and sunhemp mineralized 45 mg N kg−1 and 3.5 mg P kg−1. This suggested that weeds and/or leaching may have impacted negatively to nutrient flow from decaying cover crops species to maize during the long winter fallow period.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Sunhemp stems retained 65% dry weight after 132 days.
Verbatim
e0“Sunhemp stems had 65% dry weight remaining after 132 days”
Claim · model-written summary
Just over 10% of mucuna leaves remained.
MucunaOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“just over 10% of mucuna and sunhemp leaves remained.”
Claim · model-written summary
Just over 10% of sunhemp leaves remained.
Verbatim
e0“just over 10% of mucuna and sunhemp leaves remained.”
Claim · model-written summary
Cover crops made no mineral contribution to maize growth.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“There was no mineral contribution to maize growth by cover crops.”
Claim · model-written summary
Mucuna mineralized 60 mg N kg−1 in incubation.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“mucuna mineralized 60 mg N kg−1 and 3.2 mg P kg−1”
Claim · model-written summary
Mucuna mineralized 3.2 mg P kg−1 in incubation.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“mucuna mineralized 60 mg N kg−1 and 3.2 mg P kg−1”
Claim · model-written summary
Sunhemp mineralized 45 mg N kg−1 in incubation.
Verbatim
e0“sunhemp mineralized 45 mg N kg−1 and 3.5 mg P kg−1.”
Claim · model-written summary
Sunhemp mineralized 3.5 mg P kg−1 in incubation.
Verbatim
e0“sunhemp mineralized 45 mg N kg−1 and 3.5 mg P kg−1.”
Claim · model-written summary
Weeds or leaching may have reduced nutrient flow to maize during winter fallow.
- Interactor
- weedse0weed
- Outcome
- nutrient flow from decaying cover crops species to maizee0
- Direction
- negativelye0
- Qualifier
- during the long winter fallow periode0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“weeds and/or leaching may have impacted negatively to nutrient flow from decaying cover crops species to maize during the long winter fallow period.”
The same questions in other papers
cover crop · growth · Zea mays (maize)Results differ
11 papers in the same direction as this paper · 16 in the opposite direction
- positive
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See all 28 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.