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Browsing by Subject "fallow"

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  • Kväveeffekt och inverkan av gröngödsling med vitlupin i en spannmålsrik växtföljd 
    Räfså, Tomas (2014)
    More than half of the agricultural land in Finland is cultivated with cereals, and on many farms, cereals are also grown in monoculture. Studies have shown that crop rotation can decrease the need of inputs and also increase crop yields. At the same time more knowledge is needed about qualities and benefits of different crops. The aim of this study was to investigate the qualities of white lupin as a one year green manure crop, and to investigate its impact and nitrogen effect on barley yield formation and yield quality during the subsequent growth period. The aim was furthermore to investigate if white lupin affected soil mineral nitrogen content. A two year long field experiment was established during the growth season of 2010 at Viikki research farm in Helsinki. In year 2010 white lupin, barley and fallow was cultivated as precrops for the following growth period. In year 2011 only barley was cultivated and different nitrogen treatments were included in the experiment to be able to evaluate precrop nitrogen effect. In year 2011 cultivation of white lupin and barley was also repeated in a second field experiment. In the experiments, white lupin lenght development, ground coverage and biomass accumulation were recorded and compared with barley. The total amount of nitrogen that white lupin accumulated was also determined. In year 2011 precrop and nitrogen treatment effects on barley yield formation and yield quality was determined. Precrop and nitrogen treatment effects on soil mineral nitrogen was investigated from fall 2010 to fall 2011. White lupin was successfully cultivated without any input of fertilizers. White lupin showed less ground coverage in early summer, and therefore showed inferior weed competition compared with barley. White lupin achieved the same plant lenght and total biomass as barley, but accumulated over 200 N kg/ha. In the precrop and nitrogen treatments, barley grain yield did not indicate any need of nitrogen fertilizer, where white lupin had been used as precrop. Grain protein content, however, showed that even with white lupin as precrop, a 20 kg/ha nitrogen starter was not sufficient. Soil mineral nitrogen content was clearly increased by white lupin only before sowing in year 2011.
  • Luonnonhoitopellot maatalousympäristön luonnon monimuotoisuuden edistämisessä 
    Toivonen, Marjaana (2011)
    Environmental fallows were added as a new voluntary scheme to the agri-environmental programme in Finland in 2009. The scheme aims, among other things, to benefit farmland biodiversity by providing resources for wildlife, and to protect soil from erosion and nutrient leaching. There are four types of environmental fallows: long-term grassland, game crop field, landscape plant field and meadow plant field. In 2010, they covered in total over seven per cent of the field area in Finland. It is important to evaluate the impacts of environmental fallows on environment and develop the scheme, in order to make effective use of resources put into it. The goals of this study were to find out, how important environmental fallows are for biodiversity in agricultural landscapes; what kind of fallows are the most valuable for biodiversity; and how the scheme should be developed. In order to answer these questions, the species richness and composition of vascular plants as well as vegetation structure were surveyed on environmental fallows in Uusimaa and North Ostrobothnia regions in summer 2010. Additionally, the vegetation of environmental fallows was compared with the vegetation of semi-natural meadows and field edges surveyed in another study. Information on the study fields, e. g. parcel history, establishment and management, was collected through a farmer questionnaire. Meadow fields that are sown with low-competitive seed mixtures proved to be the most species rich of the environmental fallow types. On grasslands and meadow fields, the fertility of soil was negatively correlated to the number of species. In species composition the four types of environmental fallows differed from each others as well as from seminatural meadows and field edges. So, the scheme probably enhances diversity in landscape scale. However, there were few rare plant species on environmental fallows. Today, the big majority of the environmental fallows are long-term grasslands, which reduces their positive impact on landscape and biodiversity. The value of environmental fallows both for nature, farmers and society can be enhanced by developing seed mixtures and establishment and management methods as well as offering more advice for the farmers.

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