What are the nurse crops?
Thesaurus of Sustainability
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A nurse crop is a crop used to assist in the establishment of the main crop. Typically, growers use an annual plant to support a perennial plant. Nurse plants reduce main crop competition from weeds, prevent soil erosion, and protect broadleaf seedlings from excess sunlight.
A typical example is using oats with alfalfa. Farmers also combine two annual plants, such as barley and vetch. The vetch tends to lean, leading to a degradation of the produced quality. The vetch plants are attached to the barley stems using tendrils and grow vertically. The use of nurse plants is a subtype of inter-cropping.
