ORGANIC FIELD VEGETABLES GROWN UNDER CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A 2-SITE FIELD EXPERIMENT IN CENTRAL ITALY

Organic farming systems are considered not compatible with conservation agriculture (CA) techniques (e.g., reduced tillage, strip-tillage and no-tillage) because of some constrains, as high weed pressure and reduced nutrient availability (Peigné et al., 2007). Nitrogen (N) management in organic farming systems relies to a great extent on preventive measures such as the introduction of legumes in the crop rotation and the use of winter cover crops (CC) (Thorup-Kristensen et al., 2003), which are also useful tools for weed control. The main objective of this study was to test the performances of conservative vegetable production under organic farming conditions, practiced with intensive use of cover crops and innovative machines.