ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Combination of cover crops and bacterial consortia reduce weediness in organic spelt wheat in Central Europe
Rafał Górski 1, A-D,F
,
 
Alicja Niewiadomska 2, A,C,E-F
,
 
Anna Płaza 3, A-D,F
,
 
,
 
,
 
,
 
Robert Rosa 3, C,E-F
 
 
 
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1
Faculty of Engineering and Economics, Ignacy Mościcki University of Applied Sciences in Ciechanów, Narutowicza 9, 06 - 400, Ciechanów, Poland
 
2
Department of Soil Science and Microbiology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Szydłowska, 60-665, Poznań, Poland
 
3
Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Siedlce, Bolesława Prusa 14, 08-110, Siedlce, Poland
 
These authors had equal contribution to this work
 
 
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article
 
 
Submission date: 2024-11-13
 
 
Acceptance date: 2025-02-10
 
 
Online publication date: 2025-02-21
 
 
Corresponding author
Rafał Górski   

Faculty of Engineering and Economics, Ignacy Mościcki University of Applied Sciences in Ciechanów, Narutowicza 9, 06 - 400, Ciechanów, Poland
 
 
 
HIGHLIGHTS
  • Bacterial consortia decrease weed infestation in spelt wheat
  • Cover crop plowing reduces weed invasion
  • Bacterial consortia and cover crops as alternative to chemical plant protection
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Cultivation technologies based on the use of microbiological preparations or the introduction of cover crops in organic farming are alternatives to chemical plant protection products. To confirm this hypothesis, field studies were conducted in central Poland in 2019-2022 to determine the effect of bacterial consortia and green fertilizers from cover crops on the dry mass, abundance and species composition of dominant weed species occurring in spelt wheat grown in organic farming. Two factors were researched: I. Bacterial consortia: control treatment (no bacteria), bacterial consortium I (Azotobacter chroococcum + Azospirillum lipoferum Br17), bacterial consortium II (Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum + Arthrobacter agilis), bacterial consortium III (Azotobacter chroococcum + Azospirillum lipoferum Br17 + Bacillus megaterium var. phosphaticum + Arthrobacter agilis), II. Cover crops: control treatment (no cover crops), red clover, red clover + Italian ryegrass, and Italian ryegrass. Spelt wheat was harvested in late July. Just before harvesting, weeds were sampled to determine their dry matter, number, and species composition. The research clearly demonstrated that the application of bacterial consortia with cover crops significantly reduced the dry matter and number of weeds, including the dominant species. The greatest reduction in weed number was recorded in treatments after the application of bacterial consortium III in combination with plowing cover crops of red clover and a mixture of red clover and Italian ryegrass.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have declared that no conflict of interests exist.
eISSN:1899-007X
ISSN:1427-4345
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