Effect of hairy vetch mulching on the incidence of weeds and corn yield

Abstract

The use of winter annual cover crops improves chemical, physic and biological attributes of the soil,
and the problems with weeds in summer crops. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the reduces emergence and the growth of weeds, and the yield of the corn in competition with weeds, in different amounts of hairy vetch mulching on the soil. The experiment was carried out in the harvest 2002/03 and the quantity of mulching used was: straw absence, 4,7t/ha and 9,4t/ha. Weed density and weed mass accumulation, corn yield and the components of the yield were evaluated. There were low emergence and growth of weeds in the presence
of 9,4t/ha of mulching, which was the treatment that provided a greater yield of corn grains.