Embrapa publication highlights advantages in using live mulches in tomatoes

The vegetable production segment under organic cultivation, which has been covered in several lines of publications made available over the years by Embrapa Hortaliças (Brasília-DF), gained yet another reinforcement, this time with the Research & Development Bulletin 201 entitled “ Direct planting of tomatoes on living covers in organic production systems”.

The bulletin portrays the paths taken, from the proposal of the research work, through the experiments and reaching the results achieved, which enabled the validation of the technological solution that combines living covers with the direct planting of vegetables - in the case of this study, tomatoes.

“This work was carried out over many years to meet a fundamental principle of agroecological production systems that involve minimal soil disturbance. And the living cover system allows the production of vegetables both in the open field and in a greenhouse, for at least five years without soil preparation - for the production of vegetables, which are species of intensive use and require a lot of soil disturbance, the application of the technique has proven to be relevant”, explains researcher Francisco Vilela, who shared the work with researchers Mariane Vidal and Ronessa Bartolomeu.

The researcher draws attention to the correct use of living mulch which, because it is perennial, cannot be used in vegetables where it is mandatory to use beds in which the commercial part is underground, such as carrots, beets, potatoes, garlic, for example. And he points out some of the advantages of using this technological solution.

“Living cover, in addition to contributing to the preservation of the physical structure, fertility and life of the soil, a fundamental principle of agroecology, also favors savings in irrigation and fertilization, and also helps to control weeds”, says Vilela. “And forage peanuts, in addition to these advantages, are a nitrogen-fixing legume, which represents the production of nutrients for the crop,” he adds.

Specifically, the effects of using forage peanut coverage on tomato cultivation were, according to the researcher, quite relevant. “For tomatoes, living cover increased the number of harvests and, therefore, productivity, which, in some cases, reached 30%, due to the phytosanitary effect of the cover by isolating the tomato plant from the soil, thereby creating a microclimate less favorable for the transmission of diseases, which had an impact on the longevity of the plants, which remained alive for longer than on bare soil”.

Tomato Research Target Audience 

The bulletin “Direct planting of tomatoes on living covers in an organic production system” targets organic and ecologically based farmers, but is not limited to just this segment. In the researcher's assessment, “the technology has great potential to be introduced into commercial tomato production systems, whether organic or not”. The publication is available at the available address here.