Cover Crops
For soil improvement and livestock integration
Conservation Agriculture (CA): three principles
▪Minimal soil disturbance
▪Diversified cropping
- Intercropping
-Mixed cropping
-Crop rotation
▪Permanent organic soil cover
-Inclusion of cover crops
-soil cover; residues, mulch
What are cover crops
Crops planted for soil building to:
•Create a living cover and diversity
•Increase root and microbial
diversity in the soil
•Build soil cover –stover
•Provide other uses such as;
•Livestock fodder (cattle, goats
chickens) (Sunflowers, Sunhemp,
Fodder rye, oats, fodder radish…)
•Food (sorhum, millet, turnips…)
•N-fertilization (vetch, field peas,
Lucerne, clover….)
Winter CC mix: Black oats, fodder rye and
fodder radish
Gobizembe
Smephi Chonco: Relay
cropping with beans
Rita Ngobese: Allowed
cattle in to graze
Eunice Maphumulo:
Planted in patches
where beans did not
germinate or grow
well
WCC (black Sia oats,
fodder rye, forage
peas)
Mayizekanye
Thembi Mkhize; separate plot
Nomusa Shandu; radish grew very well- let
cattle in to graze
Lungile Phungulo: relay cropping with maize –
a lot of shading
Mrs Maphumulo: cowpeas
Cornfields
Mr MdungeniMiya: Separate plot of SCC to try
and improve soil quality
Mrs Khumalo: Maize, bean and butternut
intercrop
•Bergville (61): Summer CC mix: sunflower, Sunhemp, babala (millet), vetch, forage
sorghum and turnips. WCC mix (saia oats, fodder radish fodder rye)
•SKZN&EC and Midlands: WCC mix
Cover Crops in Bergville
Khulekani Dladla, Stulwane-
Sorghum
Ntombakhe Zikode, Eqeleni- Sunhemp forage sorghum
and WCC
Phumelele Hlongwane,
Ezibomvini - millet
•Stulwane(10) and Eqeleni (1); Teff, Lucerne, clover (red and white),
Lab-lab, cowpeas
•Germination and growth for only 3 crops this season;
Teff, Lab-Lab and turnips
•In season grazing and baling of dried fodder
Bergville: Fodder production experimentation
TEFF Mtholeni Buthelezi, StulwaneBales of veld grass mixed with residue from cowpea and Lab’Lab
LAB-LAB PhumeleleHlongwane, Ezibomvini
Seasonal effects
•~40% reduction in yield
for maize
•~80% of total yield loss
in beans; and 55%
reduction in yield to the
remaining participants
•Lab-Lab, cowpeas and
SCC grew better than
the maize and beans
•Sharp increase in maize
cob rots