Paper presented at the 52nd CFCS Annual Meeting, Guadeloupe, July 10-16, 2016 Cover crops Velvet bean Sunn hemp Sorghum sudangrass Fallow
Okra fruit yield (kg/ha) 10,024.5a 8,370.1ab 7,536.7b 6,256.8c
Okra biomass (kg/ha) 252.7bc 603.1a 330.1b 232.3c
Table 1. Okra fruit yield and biomass with cover crops vs. fallow
Figure 2. Soil root-knot nematodes suppressed by various cover crops.
Conclusion Incorporating summer cover crops into the cropping system for commercial vegetable production has shown a great potential for a sustainable development of agriculture in the tropical and subtropical regions. Some cover crops, especially sunn hemp, can grow fast and accumulate a large quantity of biomass, it can suppress weeds and nematodes to reduce the input of agrochemicals, which are critical components of the sustainability in agriculture.
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