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By ARVALIS Communication team

The results of ReMIX contributed to enrich Arvalis' decision-support tool on the choice of cover crops with the addition of living mulches.

The decision-support tool (DST), Choix des couverts (Choice of cover crops, in English) has been developed by 6 French technical Institutes, amongst them ReMIX partners Arvalis and Terres Inovia. This free-access DST is available to farmers to help them choose the cover crop best suited to their cropping system. To do so, several criteria are considered, such as rotation, the following crop, the management of the cover, and the objectives pursued. Thanks to its success, this tool, which already offers no less than 120 pure or associated cover crop species, will benefit from the addition of living mulches options through the work achieved in ReMIX.

Living mulches or 'plant teams' are non-harvested "companion" species associated with cereal cash crops. Usually, perennial forage legume species are sown in a first cash crop. After harvesting, the living mulch keeps on growing during the intercropping period and must be controlled for the good development of the next cash crop that will be sown. This might be a way to cope with the climate change by maintening the soil covered and thus enhancing the soil resilience against natural disorders (flooding, heavy wind, dryness, erosion). But the implementation of living mulch must be perfected, especially regarding the control of legumes to allow an optimal development of the cash crop.