TY - JOUR AU - Golian, Joanna AU - Anyszka, Zbigniew AU - Kwiatkowska, Joanna PY - 2023/04/28 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Multifunctional living mulches for weeds control in organic apple orchards JF - Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Hortorum Cultus JA - Acta Sci. Pol. Hortorum Cultus VL - 22 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.24326/asphc.2023.4473 UR - https://czasopisma.up.lublin.pl/index.php/asphc/article/view/4473 SP - 73-84 AB - <p>A trial assessing the suitability of multifunctional living mulch to maintain the soil and reduce weed infestation was carried out in an organic apple orchard in the years of 2019-2020. Perennial plants (<em>Alchemilla vulgaris</em>, <em>Fragaria vesca</em>, <em>Mentha</em> <em>piperita</em>) and annual crops (<em>Tropaeolum</em> <em>majus </em>and <em>Cucurbita maxima</em>) were grown in the in the rows of the apple trees. The weeds number and soil weeds coverage in tree rows were assessed. Regardless of the living mulch species utilized, the soil resulted to be mostly covered by perennial weed species such as: <em>Equisetum arvense</em> and <em>Taraxacum officinale</em> and annual species such as: <em>Lamium purpureum</em>, <em>Stellaria media</em>, <em>Galinsoga parviflora</em>, <em>Capsella bursa-pastoris</em> and <em>Poa annua</em>, which were the most common species also for the natural cover used as control. However, all living mulch species limited weed infestation and <em>M. piperita</em>, <em>F. vesca </em>&nbsp;and <em>T. majus</em> most strongly limited weeds growth. It is concluded that living mulch species can be a feasible practice to manage the soil on the tree rows in organic orchards.</p> ER -