Developing an organic farming protocol for young vegetable shoots: a multidisciplinary approach

Description

This experiment is being conducted at IRDA’s Organic Agriculture Innovation Platform. Two fields will be dedicated to this project. Field 1 was previously used for a project entitled The impact of cover crops and organic fertilizers on the yield and safety of organic carrots grown in black soil. Long-term experimental plots were established three years ago and carrots were grown there in 2015 and 2016. Treatments will include three cover crops (oats, field peas, and a control) paired with three organic fertilizers (chicken manure pellets, compost, and a control). Each treatment will be repeated three times for a total of 27 experimental plots. Cover crops are being included in the experimental design because of their ability to reduce peat soil degradation caused by wind erosion and the oxidation of carbon. They may also impact other parameters such as weeds and plant diseases. Green vegetables (lettuce, spinach, kale) are being grown on these plots from 2017 to 2020 in order to assess the impact of the experimental treatments on crop yield and quality, pests, plant diseases, and weeds.

Objective(s)

• Quantify the impact of cover crops and organic fertilizers on crop yield and quality.
• Optimize the operations for stale seedbeds and old seedbeds by using weed emergence models based on environmental factors.
• Determine soil conditions where pre-planting irrigation contributes to weed emergence, in order to optimize stale seedbed operations.
• Assess the effectiveness of trap crop species on flea beetle populations and the damage caused to crops in different production systems.
• Determine the effect of bio-insecticides and/or predators on thrips and corn fly populations in different production systems.
• Assess the impact of production systems on the occurrence of plant diseases, and evaluate control strategies