The 5th OPER8 webinar focused on cultural controls and mulching solutions. It was a collaboration between OPER8 and the EU-funded GOOD project and the webinar lasted about 1 hour 30 minutes. Four speakers dived into several alternative weed control for arable crops and vineyards. Over 90 participants from many EU and non-EU countries attended and had the opportunity to ask questions to the expert speakers.
First, a short introduction about OPER8 and GOOD projects by Olga Kriezi and Alexandros Tataridas started the webinar. Then, Matt Smee, from the Organic Research Centre (UK), presented living mulch solutions for arable. Living mulch are semi-permanent legumes understories undersown in cereals and lasting several years, with the second year being the real “mulch year”. It is at the interface between intercropping, undersowing, cover crops, and mulching solutions. Matt gave several research results of living mulch use on nitrogen availability, impact on yield and weed control, and benefits for the soil. He also gave practical implementation explanations.
Second, Fanny Prezman from the French Wine and Vine Institute (France) presented results of weed control with under vine dead mulch for different kind of biobased mulches, bringing to discussion benefits for the vine and the soil. She provided practical advice on implementation (mulch thickness and width, inter-row area management…). Several mulch materials have been tested such as green waste, miscanthus straw, biobased felt, wood chips, … Results on weed control depend on the mulch durability, with a good weed suppression effect in the first years and variable in the newt years.
Green waste mulch should be refurbished yearly. The impact on soil quality is usually good: soil humidity is improved; mulch is a buffer to temperature fluctuations compared to bare soil. The main drawback is the high cost of raw material purchase and implementation (not well mechanized and time-consuming), with some material more expensive and some cheaper when locally sourced, such as green waste.
Third, Ioannis Gazoulis from The Agricultural University of Athens (Greece) presented their trials about the combined effect of cover cropping and other treatments such as mechanical weeding, false seedbed, pelargonic acid, reduced herbicide used, for winter wheat trials and vineyards (inter-row area). He provided results of impact on weed suppression, cover crop biomass, and grain yield for wheat.
Last, María Ramos García from CICYTEX (Spain) presented GOOD project living labs and trial process of cover crop seed inoculation with AMF (Arbuscular Mycorrizhal Fungi), to improve cover crop performance. AMF are locally sourced in all soils of the projects (several countries) to take advantage of their benefits: they are soil symbionts which influence soil fertility and plant nutrition (e.g. improved nutrient uptake of phosphorus), productivity, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Their trials are still ongoing.
