Legume benefits in Mediterranean cropping systems

The potential benefits from legumes in Mediterranean cropping systems are important and annual legumes also represent a strong point in the European Communities Common Agricultural Policy,Europe 2020. Indeed coupled subsidies are expected for its cultivation in Ecological Focus Areas, as imposed by Greening rules. Currently, there is a renewed interest in leguminous species overall, both as a valuable biological N source for Mediterranean farming systems and representing additional crop options for longer-term rotations. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the benefits of field bean and burr medic for supporting organic wheat cropping, as part of existing forage-livestock farming systems. After harvesting of legume seeds, a remarkable amount of crop residues and fixed N remained in fields. This represents a relevant N input for the wheat crop in the rotation. Wheat grain yield ranged from 1,560 to 1,750 kg ha -1 matching average regional organic yields. Integrated crop-livestock systems represent an opportunity to improve farming sustainability due to the benefits that legumes have on soil nutrients and carbon stocks.