Agronomic potential of winter grain legumes for Central Europe: Development, soil coverage and yields

Shifting from spring-sowing to autumn-sowing of crops might be a way to address expected changes in agroclimatic conditions in Central European cropping systems. Therefore, a two-year field experiment was conducted under Pannonian climate conditions in eastern Austria for assessing development, soil coverage and yields of winter faba bean and winter pea in comparison to spring faba bean and spring pea and winter wheat and winter oat. Both winters were mild and both winter grain legumes showed a high winter survival. Winter grain legumes had lower soil coverage in autumn than winter wheat but higher soil coverage than spring-sown grain legumes up to mid-May. Autumn-sowing resulted in earlier flowering, a longer duration of developmental stages and higher grain and residue yields than spring-sown grain legumes. Winter pea had higher grain yield than winter faba bean. Autumn-sowing of both faba bean and pea can be recommended in Central European growing conditions.