Effect of Living Mulches on Selected Soil Structure Indicators in Eggplant Cultivation

Conducted research involved evaluation of selected soil properties in eggplant cultivation with the use of living mulches from white clover and perennial ryegrass. The mulching species were sown three weeks before eggplant planting, in the term of planting and three weeks after planting this vegetable. In half of August there was assessed stability of soil aggregates on the basis of the following indicators of: cloddiness (B), misting (S), structure (W) of the soil and mean weighed diameter of aggregates - the dry method (MWDa), as well as water stability ( MWD) and waterproof (Wod) index of soil aggregates and mean weighed diameter of aggregates - the wet method (MWDg). Cover plants did significantly decrease soil cloddiness indicator, while the earliest term of their sowing contributed to lowering of that parameter values by nearly 1/3 in relation to the data obtained for mechanically treated plots. Indicator of misting of the soil and soil structure index was higher for the soil of inter - rows covered with living mulches. It was noticed that longer term of covering inter - rows with white clover and perennial ryegrass improved soil structure. Living mulches improved mean weighed diameter of aggregates, determined according to the wet method, as well as indicator of aggregates waterproof and water stability index. After sowing white clover or perennial ryegrass three weeks before eggplant planting, mean weighed diameter of aggregates, measured with the use of the wet method, was higher by 29.0% and by 18.3% than the one characterizing the object with the last term of sowing and it was higher by 31.4% and 17.1% than the value determined for mechanically treated inter - rows. ΔMWD indicator for the soil covered with white clover and with perennial ryegrass was, average, by 15.5% and 34.7% higher than the data featuring mechanical treatment. For Wod index those differences amounted 18.8% and 9.7% respectively