Leguminous pre-crops improved quality of organic winter and spring cereals

ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to assess the effect of leguminous pre-crop species on quality characteristics of subsequent spring and winter cereals. The experiment was carried out in an organic crop rotation in north-eastern Europe. The influence of biomass dry matter yield, carbon and nitrogen content of perennial red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum L.), Washington lupin (Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl.), biennial white sweet clover (Melilotus albus L.), annual crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.) and Alexandria clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) on protein concentration, bulk density and thousand grain weight of subsequent cereals were assessed. Barley, oats, winter rye, spring and winter wheat were grown in the first post-legume year and barley and oats in the second post-legume year. In the first year after perennial and biennial pre-crops, the protein concentration of the cereals, except for rye, increased by 0.8–2.6 percentage points compared with the control. The largest increases in protein concentration of the cereals were after red and alsike clovers. The legumes increased the bulk density of all of the cereals, while thousand kernel weights were increased only for barley, spring and winter wheat. All the legume species had a positive second-year after-effect on the protein concentration of barley and oats, with the largest effect after red and alsike clover at 1.0–1.3 percentage points. The results showed that all of the leguminous pre-crops were suitable for increasing the quality of cereals. The effect was greater after perennial and biennial species compared with the annual species.