Svetlana Antanasović

Forage Legume Intercropping in Temperate Regions: Models and Ideotypes

This chapter shows that our models of intercropping do not increase the costs of sowing. The crude protein content in forage dry matter remains high, even with short growing seasons. The models fit easily into various cropping systems and do not require synthetic fertilisers or herbicide. Intercropping is one of the oldest agricultural practices worldwide. Intercropping is beneficial in many ways, encompassing better utilisation of soil resources such as water and nutrients, improved tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress such as low temperatures, drought, pests and diseases and environment-friendly services such as decreased demand for chemical weed control and mineral fertilisers. Despite its long tradition, intercropping offers constant challenges in examining diverse aspects of newly-designed crop associations. One of the most recent and thoroughly studied is intercropping annual temperate legumes with each other for forage production. We established four main principles for such intercropping: same time of sowing; similar growing habit; similar cutting time; and one component has good standing ability (supporting crop) and another is susceptible to lodging (supported crop). Here we review the basic agronomic performance of three main intercropping groups, namely (1) autumn- and spring-sown ‘tall’ cool season legumes; (2) autumn- and spring-sown ‘short’ cool season legumes; (3) early and late maturing warm-season annual forage legumes. Intercropping autumn-sown faba bean with autumn-sown common vetch had balanced total forage dry matter yield and Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) of 1.42. All combinations of autumn-sown and spring-sown intercrops of semi-leafless and normal-leafed peas resulted in LER values higher than 1. The intercrop of pigeon pea and lablab bean had LER values of 1.12 and 1.10. Majority of the intercrops are justified as economically reliable by Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) values.

Performance of Forage Soya Bean (Glycine max) Cultivars in the Northern Balkans

Soya bean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is the most important grain legume crop in many West Balkan Countries. A programme on the alternative uses of soya bean such as forage, biomass or green manure has been recently launched in the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad and the Maize Research Institute Zemun Polje in Belgrade. A small-plot trial has been carried out in Novi Sad and Zemun Polje during 2009 and 2010 with four US forage soya bean cultivars. In both years and at both locations, all four cultivars were sown in late April, with a target sowing density of 75 viable seeds m− 2, and cut in the stages of full flowering or first pods development, mostly in the second half of July. In a 2-year average, the cultivar Donegal had the highest yields of both green forage (63.9 t ha− 1) and forage dry matter (15.1 t ha− 1). In single years, the highest yields were recorded in the cultivar Donegal, in Novi Sad in 2010, with 82.4 t ha− 1 of green forage and 18.4 t ha− 1 of forage dry matter.

Yield Dynamics and Quality in White Clover and Perennial Ryegrass in the First cut of the Establishment Year

A field trial was carried out in the Vojvodina province, Serbia, during 2009 and 2010 in rainfed conditions. The study assessed the dynamics of yield formation, changes in morphological characteristics, as well as the nutritive values of white clover and perennial ryegrass grown as monocultures. Five varieties of white clover (Chieftain, Susi, Aran, Avoca and Rivendale) and eight of perennial ryegrasses (Cashel, Shandon, Magician, Greengold, Glenstal, Millenium, Sarsfield and Glencar), developed at and provided by Teagasc, Ireland, have been used for this research. After four measurements a significant differences in examined parameters with white clover and perennial ryegrass varieties were registered. In all studied parameters the highest values were recorded in the fourth measurement. The stolon length ranged from 1.4 cm (Avoca) to 4.1 cm (Chieftain). Susi had the highest number of stolons (2.1), and Rivendale had the lowest (0.9) but also the highest number of leaves per stolon (3.7). The leaf length ranged from 6.1 cm (Avoca) to 19.3 cm (Aran). Concerning ryegrass, the number of lateral shoots ranged from 2.8 (Millenium) to 4.8 (Magician). The highest number of leaves per shoot was in Cashel (4.8), and the lowest was reported for Millenium and Greengold (3.3). The average shoot height to the first leaf varied between 3.2 cm (Glenstal) and 4.4 cm (Cashel). The highest yield of white clover was achieved by Rivendale (1.19 t ha− 1), while the highest yield of perennial ryegrass were recorded by Millennium (8.26 t ha− 1) and Magician (8.03 t ha− 1). The average crude protein content was higher in white clover (22.8 %) than in perennial ryegrass (12.8 %), while the crude fibre content of white clover and perennial ryegrass were 18.1 and 34.7 %, respectively. These parameters led to a lower digestibility in perennial ryegrass, reflected through the monitored parameters of NDF and ADF.