Corn requires a high uptake of nitrogen. Because soil has a limited capacity to supply this N demand, other N sources as legumes and mineral fertilizers are used. Potentially, the association of these sources of N can contribute to agricultural sustainability. This work was carried out to evaluate the impact of tillage and cropping systems on N availability. A long-term experiment established on a Paleudult at UFRGS (RS), Brazil was used. This experiment had three tillage systems: conventional, minimum and no-tillage; three corn production systems: black oat/corn, black oat + common vetch/corn + cowpea and common vetch/corn; and three N fertilizer rates: 0, 90 and 180 kg ha-1 applied in corn. The association of no-tillage with legume based crop systems was efficient in restoring the soil N stock. Although the conventional tillage induced faster N residue release than no-tillage, both tillage systems had good synchronism with corn demand. Corn N uptake and dry mass yield were greater in conventional tillage than in no-tillage. However, corn yield was similar in these tillage systems. The N fertilizer equivalence was estimated in 55 kg ha-1 to vetch and 38 kg ha-1 to mixture of oat + vetch.
no-tillage; conventional tillage; cover crops; soil management