There is a grass that can fix N, it grows on sand dunes. I don't know what it's called or why I know this though. I think someone was trying to breed it into wheat or something along those lines.
Oats as a cover crop ?
- Thread starter Clive
- Start date
- Location
- Romsey, Hampshire
Found this which is interesting:
Many microorganisms fix nitrogen, often in association with plants: cyanobacteria associated with lichens, the water fern Azolla (in rice fields), and cycads; Rhizobium species in symbiotic relationship with legumes, Frankia, the filamentous actinomycetes bacteria that form nodules with the roots of woody actinorhizal plants such as alder (Alnus species), and sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).
Free living cyanobacteria also fix nitrogen, and are mainly responsible for the nitrogen fixed at sea [17]. In the soil, many heterotrophic bacteria (those that depend on oxidising organic molecules released by other organisms or from decomposition) fix significant amounts of nitrogen without directly interacting with other organisms. These include species of Azotobacter, Bacillus,Clostridium, and Klebsiella [18]. A study in Australia of an intensive wheat rotation farming system showed that free-living microorganisms contributed 20 kg/ha /year (30-50 %) of the cropping system’s nitrogen requirements [19] (the rest could be supplied by decomposing organic matter in the soil). The maintenance of wheat stubble and reduced tillage provided the high-carbon, low nitrogen environment that optimizes nitrogen fixation. Azospirillum species can form close associations with Paoceae grasses that include rice, wheat, corn, oats and barley, fixing substantial amounts of nitrogen within the plant root zone, where oxygen is low and host plants can provide organic substrates exuded from the roots to feed the bacteria [20].
Many microorganisms fix nitrogen, often in association with plants: cyanobacteria associated with lichens, the water fern Azolla (in rice fields), and cycads; Rhizobium species in symbiotic relationship with legumes, Frankia, the filamentous actinomycetes bacteria that form nodules with the roots of woody actinorhizal plants such as alder (Alnus species), and sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).
Free living cyanobacteria also fix nitrogen, and are mainly responsible for the nitrogen fixed at sea [17]. In the soil, many heterotrophic bacteria (those that depend on oxidising organic molecules released by other organisms or from decomposition) fix significant amounts of nitrogen without directly interacting with other organisms. These include species of Azotobacter, Bacillus,Clostridium, and Klebsiella [18]. A study in Australia of an intensive wheat rotation farming system showed that free-living microorganisms contributed 20 kg/ha /year (30-50 %) of the cropping system’s nitrogen requirements [19] (the rest could be supplied by decomposing organic matter in the soil). The maintenance of wheat stubble and reduced tillage provided the high-carbon, low nitrogen environment that optimizes nitrogen fixation. Azospirillum species can form close associations with Paoceae grasses that include rice, wheat, corn, oats and barley, fixing substantial amounts of nitrogen within the plant root zone, where oxygen is low and host plants can provide organic substrates exuded from the roots to feed the bacteria [20].
- Location
- Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk
Is it Cretan Trefoil? Probably not but it's a legume that grows on sand dunes
- Location
- Haute Vienne, France
Does anybody know if black oats can be sown the year of production? I have a few tonnes we combined last week, can I use the seed this autumn or are they a true spring crop with dormancy issues?
Any more experience of using oats in a cover crop in front of sugar beet?
Mix will be approx 6kg/ha pring Oats, 3kg/ha Spring Vetch, 3kg/ha Spring Linseed.
Planned spring cultivations in front of the drill just involve a powerharrow 1-1.5” deep.
Am I likely to experience any negative (allelopathic) type effects?
Mix will be approx 6kg/ha pring Oats, 3kg/ha Spring Vetch, 3kg/ha Spring Linseed.
Planned spring cultivations in front of the drill just involve a powerharrow 1-1.5” deep.
Am I likely to experience any negative (allelopathic) type effects?
If the oats get away well now, they'll probably be flowering by the time frosts come along and the cold should kill them...there shouldn't be much left by the time you get there with the powerharrow, with no allelopathic worries. If it's a mild winter, bets are off, but at 6kg/ha sowing rate it won't be a jungle
Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
I’d hope he gets glyphosate applied by mid late January so the cover is dead and rotted away before the power harrow gets in the field. Clopyralid will tidy up any vetch survivor.
2 oat plants to a m2? Sure its not 60kg of oats?
I hadn’t worked out a plant count to be honest, most of the seed suppliers were recommending around 25-30kg/ha for a Oats/Vetch mix, I don’t want a particularly thick stand so thought I would halve it and add some Linseed.
I could try a couple of different seed rates this year and see how it goes.
At that little oat population I'd not bother adding them. They are dirt cheap by comparison and give a very good root growth.
- Location
- Essex
why oats
and why black oats
why not spring barley or triticale etc if going in front of root crops
putting 25 kg winter oats 5 vetch 5 radish in . and going to reduce vetch radish by half on half of field to see difference
it’s on nice silt coming beet
and why black oats
why not spring barley or triticale etc if going in front of root crops
putting 25 kg winter oats 5 vetch 5 radish in . and going to reduce vetch radish by half on half of field to see difference
it’s on nice silt coming beet