The association of conservation tillage with cover crops is an important tool for improving soil quality. When legumes are used as cover crops there is an increase in nitrogen (N) availability for the first crop in succession (immediate effect). However, the long term use of legumes as cover crop increases soil N availability (residual effect). This long-term experiment was carried out to evaluate the immediate effect and residual effect of cover crops on a Paleadulf from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The experimental design was a split split plot with three replications. The main plots were three tillage systems: conventional, minimum and no-tillage; the subplot consisted of three crop productions: black oat/corn (A/M), oat + common vetch/corn (A + E/M), oat + common vetch/corn + cowpea (A + E/M + C), and the subsubplots consisted of two N fertilizer rates: 0 and 120 kg ha-1. The crop production systems used were: oat/corn, vetch/corn and oat + vetch/corn. In order to evaluate the residual effect of cover crop, the plots were split in bare soil before corn cropping and cover with cover crop. Conservation tillage plus legume cover crop increased total N at soil surface. The use of legumes in A + E/M + C, regardless of the tillage system, increased corn N uptake by 26% and increased corn yield by 19%, when compared to A/M. Despite that, cover crop biomass in the presence of corn was considered the most important N source to corn.
Nitrogen fertilizer; tillage systems; crops systems; Zea mays L