Evaluation of the agronomic performance of organic processing tomato as affected by different cover crop residues management

Different kind of mulches are tested, some with previous cover crops and some with previous fallow soil:
- rolled and flamed cover crops left as dead mulch (supplemented or not with mowing);
- plastic mulch after incorporation of cover crops;
- plastic mulch after fallow conventionnally-tilled soil;

squarrose clover rolled, flamed, and followed by a direct transplantation of tomato ; squarrose clover rolled and flamed, followed by a direct transplantation of tomato and supplemented with weeding interventions, i.e., inter-row mowing; squarrose clover incorporated as green manure; squarrose clover incorporated and the soil covered with black biodegradable plastic mulch set over the season ; fallow conventionally-tilled soil covered with plastic mulch; fallow conventionally-tilled with soil kept bare; weedy control

conventional tillage (ploughed)/no till + cover crop yes/no + plastic mulch yes/no

The present study investigated the effects of tillage and cover cropping on weed biomass, plant growth, yield, and fruit quality of an organic processing tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L. var. Elba F1) over two seasons (2015–2017). We compared systems where processing tomato was transplanted on i) tilled soil following or not a winter cover crop (Trifolium squarrosum L.) and with/without a biodegradable plastic mulch; and ii) no-till where clover was used, after rolling and flaming, as dead mulch.