This study was carried out to assess the influence of winter plant cover on the grain yield in the bean/maize crop rotation in a Structured Terra Roxa soil in the state of Santa Catarina. The plant cover consisted of an association of black oats (Avena stirgosa Schreb) with pasture turnip (Raphanus sativus L.) and organic fertilization with poultry manure and mineral fertilization. The soil cover influenced the grain yield in the bean plant, but not the maize. This may have happened because there was a bean harvest before the maize crop, and also that the association of black oats with pasture turnip has a narrower C/N ratio than that of oats alone. Fertilization increased grain yield in beans regardless of the use of plant cover, while maize yield increased only in the treatment without cover, and there was no difference among the types of fertilizer.
plant cover; grain yield; organic fertilization; mineral fertilization