effects of green manures on soil organic matter and wheat.pdfVIP

Effects of green manures on soil organic matter and wheat yields and N nutrition A. N’Dayegamiye and Thi Sen Tran Institut de recherche et développement en agroenvironnement, 2700 Einstein, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1P 3W8 (e-mail: adrien.ndayegamiye@irda.qc.ca). Received 25 May 2000, accepted 8 March 2001. N’Dayegamiye, A. and Tran, T. S. 2001. Effects of green manures on soil organic matter and wheat yields and N nutrition. Can. J. Soil Sci. 81: 371–382. A field study was conducted for 5 yr (1993–1997) to evaluate the effects of green manure residues applied to the soil in 1993 and 1995, on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yields and N nutrition as subsequent crop in 1994, 1996 and 1997. The effect of green manure application was also evaluated on soil microbial activity (CO ), on C and N contents of whole 2 soil and on labile (LF) and heavy fractions (HF) of organic matter (OM). The experiment was initiated on a Le Bras silt loam 2 (Humic Gleysol). The green manures, as a main factor, were clover (Trifolium pratense L.), buckwheat (Fagapyrum esculentum 1 / L.), millet (Echinicloa crus galli L.), mustard (Brassica hirta Moench), and colza (Brassica campestris L.), and there was a con- 6 0 trol without green manure. The sub-factors consisted of four N fertilizer rates for wheat in the subsequent years at 0, 30, 60 and / 6 –1 15 –1 0 90 kg N ha . Broadcast application of N- labe