Green-crop drying

Crop agronomy and fertiliser inputs will be much the same as for a livestock based unit, except that the absence of any return of organic manures necessitates the substantial use of both nitrogen and potash fertilisers on grass and mainly potash fertiliser on lucerne. In the latter case potash (K O) application can be as much as 375 kg/ha in order to replace that removed by the crop. 

In the post-BSE era the popularity of dried grass and lucerne has improved. However, in spite of the availability of EU aid for the industry, green-crop drying has never developed in the UK to the same extent as in the rest of Europe where co-operative ventures have been (as ever) very willing to accept the very generous levels of aid available. 

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J. S. Shenk, M. O. Westerhaus, M. R. Hoover, K. M. Mayberry, and H. K. Goering, Predicting Forage Quality by Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy, in Proc. 2nd Int. Green Crop Drying Conf, University of Saskatchewan, 1978, pp. 292-299. 

Australian data from 1959 indicated up to 17,324 kg/ha of green matter (2762 kg/ha of dry matter) could be gained by grazing safflower as a green crop... 

Green herbage is an exceptionally rich source of P-carotene, a precmsor of vitamin A, and the dry matter of the young green crop may contain as much as 550 mg/kg. 

Brassicas need firm, moisture-retentive soil they do not thrive in dry conditions. In a crop rotation, this family best follows on from the nitrogen-fixing pea and bean family (see p.242). A green manure crop of winter vetch or clover provides leafy brassicas with all the nitrogen... 

All members of the onion tribe are hardy, cool-climate crops. Green onions, a quick filler crop, are eaten as slim young plants, leaves and all. Onions, shallots, and garlic are usually harvested once they are mature when dry, they can store well for many months (seep.271). Leeks, which do not produce a bulb, are grown for their long white, cylindrical shank. They can be left in the ground to harvest in the winter months. 

In 1821 John Locke described a pyrite mine and copperas plant at Strafford, Vermont. To facilitate crystallization of the green vitriol, branches of trees were put into the evaporating cisterns as nuclei for the crystals. The branches, said Locke, have a fine crop of foliage and fruit composed of beautiful green crystals.. . . Everything about this mineral manufactory is curiously reddened with iron rust. When a dry... 

Slopes, C., Millington, S. and Woodward, L. 1996. Dry matter and nitrogen accumulation by three leguminous green manure species and the yield of a following wheat crop in an organic production system. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 57 189-196. 

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