Brassicas and Mustards
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BRASSICAS AND MUSTARDS Type: Annual (usually winter or spring; summer use possible) Roles: Prevent erosion, suppress weeds and soilborne pests, alleviate soil compaction and scavenge nutrients Mix with: Other brassicas or mustards, small grains or crimson clover o i n o t Species: Brassica napus, Brassica rapa, n a r r a Brassica juncea, Brassica hirta, Raphanus S e n n sativus, Sinapsis alba a i r a M See charts, pp. 66 to 72, for ranking and management summary. RAPE or CANOLA (Brassica rapa) Nomenclature Note: The cover crops Adaptation Note: This chapter addresses man - described in this chapter all belong to the agement of eight different cover crop species family BRASSICACEAE . Most but not all of the with varying degrees of winterhardiness. Some species belong to the genus Brassica . In com - can be managed as winter or spring annuals. mon usage, the various species are sometimes Others are best planted in late summer for cover lumped together as “brassicas” and sometimes crop use but will winterkill. Consult the infor - distinguished as “brassicas” vs. “mustards.” In mation on management, winterhardiness and this book, we will use brassicas as an umbrella winter vs. spring use (pp. 87-88) and the exam - term for all species; mustards will be used to ples throughout the chapter, then check with distinguish that subgroup, which has some local experts for specific adaptation information unique characteristics. for your brassica cover crop of choice. rassica and mustard cover crops are known trapping, and biotoxic or biofumigation activity. for their rapid fall growth, great biomass Some brassicas have a large taproot that can break Bproduction and nutrient scavenging ability. through plow pans better than the fibrous roots of However, they are attracting renewed interest pri - cereal cover crops or the mustards. Those brassicas marily because of their pest management charac - that winterkill decompose very quickly and leave a teristics. Most Brassica species release chemical seedbed that is mellow and easy to plant in. compounds that may be toxic to soil borne With a number of different species to consider, pathogens and pests, such as nematodes, fungi you will likely find one or more that can fit your and some weeds. The mustards usually have farming system. Don’t expect brassicas to elimi - higher concentrations of these chemicals. nate your pest problems, however. They are a Brassicas are increasingly used as winter or rota - good tool and an excellent rotation crop, but pest tional cover crops in vegetable and specialty crop management results are inconsistent. More production, such as potatoes and tree fruits.There is research is needed to further clarify the variables also growing interest in their use in row crop pro - affecting the release and toxicity of the chemical duction, primarily for nutrient capture, nematode compounds involved (see p. 82). BRASSICAS AND MUSTARDS 81 BENEFITS commercial fumigants (388). It varies depending on species, planting date, growth stage when Erosion control and nutrient scavenging. killed, climate and tillage system. Be sure to con - Brassicas can provide greater than 80% soil cover - sult local expertise for best results. age when used as a winter cover crop (176). Depending on location, planting date and soil fer - ▼ Precaution. The use of brassicas for pest man - tility, they produce up to 8,000 lb. biomass/A. agement is in its infancy. Results are inconsistent Because of their fast fall growth, brassicas are well- from year to year and in different geographic suited to capture soil nitrogen (N) remaining after regions. Different species and varieties contain crop harvest. The amount of nitrogen captured is different amounts of bioactive chemicals. Be sure mainly related to biomass accumulation and the to consult local expertise and begin with small amount of N available in the soil profile. test plots on your farm. Because they immobilize less nitrogen than some cereal cover crops, much of the N taken up Disease can become available for uptake by main crops in In Washington, a SARE-funded study of brassica early to late spring (see also Building Soil Fertility green manures in potato cropping systems com - and Tilth with Cover pared winter rape ( Brassica napus ) and white Brassicas must Crops , pp. 16 –24). mustard ( Sinapis alba ) to no green manure, with Brassicas can root to and without herbicides and fungicides. The win - be planted earlier depths of six feet or ter rape system had a greater proportion of than winter cereal more, scavenging nutri - Rhizoctonia -free tubers (64%) than the white ents from below the mustard (27%) and no green manure (28%) treat - cover crops in rooting depth of most ments in the non-fumigated plots. There was less crops. To maximize bio - Verticillium wilt incidence with winter rape most regions. mass production and incorporation (7%) than with white mustard nutrient scavenging in (21%) or no green manure incorporation (22%) in the fall, brassicas must non-fumigated plots (88). be planted earlier than winter cereal cover crops In Maine, researchers have documented consis - in most regions, making them more difficult to fit tent reductions in Rhizoctonia (canker and black into grain production rotations. scurf) on potato following either rapeseed green manure or canola grown for grain (459, 460). Pest management. All brassicas have been shown They have also observed significant reductions in to release bio-toxic compounds or metabolic by- powdery scab (caused by Spongospora subter - products that exhibit broad activity against bacte - ranea ) and common scab ( Streptomyces scabiei ) ria, fungi, insects, nematodes, and weeds. Brassica following brassica green manures, especially an cover crops are often mowed and incorporated to Indian mustard ( B. juncea ) green manure (458, 459). maximize their natural fumigant potential. This is because the fumigant chemicals are produced only Nematodes when individual plant cells are ruptured. In Washington state, a series of studies addressed Pest suppression is believed to be the result of the effect of various brassica and mustard cover glucosinolate degradation into biologically active crops on nematodes in potato systems (260, 266, sulfur containing compounds call thiocyanates 353, 283, 284, 285). (152, 320). To maximize pest suppression, incor - The Columbia root-knot nematode ( Meloi- poration should occur during vulnerable life- dogyne chitwoodi ) is a major pest in the Pacific stages of the pest (446). Northwest. It is usually treated with soil fumigants The biotoxic activity of brassica and mustard costing $20 million in Washington alone. cover crops is low compared to the activity of 82 MANAGING COVER CROPS PROFITABLY Rapeseed, arugula and mustard were studied as ed to the sugar beet cyst nematode). The same alternatives to fumigation. The brassica cover species, when grown with rye or clover, did crops are usually planted in late summer (August) reduce incidence of stubby root nematode (432). or early fall and incorporated in spring before Also in Maryland, in no-till corn on a sandy soil, planting mustard. winterkilled forage radish increased bacteria-eat - Results are promising, with nematodes reduced ing nematodes, rye and rapeseed increased the up to 80%, but—because of the very low damage proportion of fungal feeding nematodes, while threshold— green manures alone cannot be rec - nematode communities without cover crops ommended for adequate control of Meloidogyne were intermediate. The Enrichment Index, which chitwoodi in potatoes. The current recommend - indicates a greater abundance of opportunistic ed alternative to fumigation is the use of rapeseed bacteria–eating nematodes, was 23% higher in or mustard cover crop plus the application of soils that had brassica cover crops than the MOCAP. This regimen costs about the same as unweeded control plots. fumigation (2006 prices). These samples, taken in November, June (a Several brassicas are hosts for plant parasitic month after spring cover crop kill), and August nematodes and can be used as trap crops followed (under no-till corn), suggest that the cover crops, by an application of a synthetic nematicide. living or dead, increased bacterial activity and may Washington State University nematologist Ekaterini have enhanced nitrogen cycling through the food Riga has been planting arugula in the end ofAugust web (432). and incorporating it in the end of October. Nematicides are applied two weeks after incor - Weeds poration, either at a reduced rate using Telone or Like most green manures, brassica cover crops the full rate of Mocap and Temik. Two years of suppress weeds in the fall with their rapid growth field trials have shown that arugula in combina - and canopy closure. In spring, brassica residues tion with synthetic nematicides reduced M. chit - can inhibit small seeded annual weeds such as, woodi to economic thresholds. pigweed, shepherds purse, green foxtail, kochia, Longer crop rotations that include mustards hairy nightshade, puncturevine, longspine sand - and non-host crops are also effective for nema - bur, and barnyardgrass (293), although pigweed tode management. For example, a 3-year rotation was not inhibited by yellow mustard (178). of potatoes>corn>wheat provides nearly com - In most cases, early season weed suppression plete control of the northern root-knot nematode obtained with brassica cover crops must be sup - (Meloidogyne hapla ) compared to methyl bro - plemented with herbicides or cultivation to avoid mide