Abstract
The integration of cover crops into cropping systems has demonstrated significant potential for enhancing weed suppression, improving soil health, and reducing dependence on chemical herbicides. A three-year field study conducted in Slovenia between 2020 and 2023 aimed to quantify the seasonal competitive relationships between cover crop and weeds while also evaluating potential yield benefits for the subsequent maize crop. A randomized complete block design accounted for variations in soil tillage (conventional and conservation) and cover crop type (single species: oilseed radish and berseem clover; a simple five-species cover crop mixture; and a functionally diverse seven-species cover crop mixture). Oilseed radish imposed the highest level of competition against weeds within the first four weeks post-sowing. The highest levels of weed suppression across years and tillage practices were observed with oilseed radish and the simple cover crop mixture (81–85 %). The functionally more diverse cover crop mixture was not more productive or weed suppressive than other cover crops neither did improve the level of weed control. The weed suppression level not closely linked to cover crop biomass production, suggests that rapid early growth may be more relevant functional trait for cover crop weed suppression capabilities. Maize yields were insignificantly improved with berseem clover and the most productive simple cover crop mixture by 0.7 t ha −1 . The present study confirms the importance of cover crops as a key non-chemical weed management strategy for diversification. However, it also indicates the need for developing trait-based cover crop mixtures to further enhance cover crop-weed competition and main crop yield outcomes under specific resource availability, management practices, and desired ecosystem services. • Intensive conventional pre-sowing tillage had a limited effect on cover crop-weed competition. • Oilseed radish was the most competitive against weeds in the early post-sowing period. • Cover crop mixtures outperformed single species over longer growing periods. • Weed suppression was not directly linked to cover crop productivity. • Maize dry grain yields slightly increased with berseem clover and the simple 5-species cover crop mixture.
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The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Oilseed radish competed most strongly against weeds during the first four weeks.
Verbatim
e0“Oilseed radish imposed the highest level of competition against weeds within the first four weeks post-sowing.”
Claim · model-written summary
Oilseed radish produced among the highest weed suppression across years and tillage practices.
- Taxon
- oilseed radishe0
- Treatment
- oilseed radishe0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed suppressione0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 81–85 %e0
Not reportedComparator
Verbatim
e0“The highest levels of weed suppression across years and tillage practices were observed with oilseed radish and the simple cover crop mixture (81–85 %).”
Claim · model-written summary
The simple cover crop mixture produced among the highest weed suppression.
- Treatment
- simple cover crop mixturee0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed suppressione0
- Direction
- higheste0
- Value
- 81–85 %e0
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The highest levels of weed suppression across years and tillage practices were observed with oilseed radish and the simple cover crop mixture (81–85 %).”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The more diverse cover crop mixture was not more productive than other cover crops.
- Treatment
- functionally more diverse cover crop mixturee0
- Outcome
- productivee0
- Direction
- not more productivee0
- Comparator
- other cover cropse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The functionally more diverse cover crop mixture was not more productive or weed suppressive than other cover crops neither did improve the level of weed control.”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
The more diverse cover crop mixture was not more weed suppressive than other cover crops.
- Treatment
- functionally more diverse cover crop mixturee0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed suppressivee0
- Direction
- not more productive or weed suppressivee0
- Comparator
- other cover cropse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The functionally more diverse cover crop mixture was not more productive or weed suppressive than other cover crops neither did improve the level of weed control.”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Weed suppression was not closely linked to cover crop biomass production.
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The weed suppression level not closely linked to cover crop biomass production, suggests that rapid early growth may be more relevant functional trait for cover crop weed suppression capabilities.”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Berseem clover increased maize yield by 0.7 t ha −1, without statistical significance.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize yields were insignificantly improved with berseem clover and the most productive simple cover crop mixture by 0.7 t ha −1 .”
Claim · model-written summary
The simple cover crop mixture increased maize yield by 0.7 t ha −1, without statistical significance.
- Treatment
- most productive simple cover crop mixturee0
- Outcome
- Maize yieldse0
- Direction
- improvede0
- Value
- 0.7 t ha −1e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Maize yields were insignificantly improved with berseem clover and the most productive simple cover crop mixture by 0.7 t ha −1 .”
Claim · model-written summary
Intensive conventional pre-sowing tillage had limited effect on cover crop competition with weeds.
- Treatment
- Intensive conventional pre-sowing tillagee0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- cover crop-weed competitione0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Intensive conventional pre-sowing tillage had a limited effect on cover crop-weed competition.”
t0“maize”
Claim · model-written summary
Cover crop mixtures outperformed single species over longer growing periods.
- Outcome
- outperformede0
- Direction
- outperformede0
- Qualifier
- longer growing periodse0
- Comparator
- single speciese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Cover crop mixtures outperformed single species over longer growing periods.”
t0“maize”
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See all 222 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.