Late February / early March is the period when producers will shred winter cover crops and sow inter-row spring cover crops for those engaged in this integrated agriculture practice.
There are indeed two types of cover crops with distinct roles:
Winter cover crops
Present between September and March, they help limit erosion, improve soil structure, and provide organic matter by storing carbon, water, and soil nutrients while trapping nitrates. This reduces the risk of nutrient loss, which is beneficial for the productivity of the main crop.
It is essential to choose adapted species mixtures to maximize the benefits of cover crops while limiting competition with the main crop. It is also important to determine an optimal termination date. These mixtures are mainly composed of crucifers and grasses, such as white mustard, forage radish, winter fava bean, winter common vetch, bitter vetch, spring and winter forage peas, as well as winter forage rye.
Spring Cover Crops
Sown at the beginning of spring and shredded during the summer, these cover crops play a protective role for the main crop by helping to combat pests and improving its resistance to climatic hazards. They also help reduce plant mortality caused by Stolbur decline, a disease caused by a bacterium primarily transmitted by leafhoppers.
Trials conducted by SCA3P over several years have shown that planting a triticale cover crop in February and terminating it at the end of summer during the first two years of cultivation can reduce plant mortality rates by 50%. These cover crops are mainly composed of cereals.
Experimentation and Development of the Practice
