Article taken from Farm Business Magazine
The role of cover crops in black-grass control and soil conditioning will be a key focus at Agrovista's Cereals stand this year. The firm has been working with cover crops for several years, notably at its Project Lamport site in Northampton-shire — a seven-year rotational cover crop trial to develop novel black-grass control strategies.
The role of cover crops in black-grass control and soil conditioning will be a key focus at Agrovista's Cereals stand this year. The firm has been working with cover crops for several years, notably at its Project Lamport site in Northampton-shire — a seven-year rotational cover crop trial to develop novel black-grass control strategies.
It is proving to be a stern test — black-grass populations exceed 2,000 heads/m2 at the site. However, using the right species and mixes while creating a platform to encourage maximum black-grass germination in the autumn, before spraying off and directly drilling into the mulch has reduced populations to less than eight heads/m2.