plantes d’intercultures

14:03 Dec 16, 2017 

@ David
Well, I'm pretty sure it means plants for intercropping. It seems to me a mixture of these plants is being used, something which is recommended for best results. Fodder grasses are usually a mix of grasses and legumes. Mustard is from the brassica family and vetch from legumes so a mix of brassica/legume/grass is often recommended to get the best possible complementarity in your food (or green manure) by interplanting these in rows=intercropping. In fact the grasses are often seen/used as "nurse" plants for the mustards (and other possible unnamed plants) for best results so here being used as intercropping plants (or plants to be intercropped, if you prefer). Many of these can also be underseeded or followed by fodder crops. I think these pictures here show that "plantes d'intercultures"= intercropping plants http://www.talkypic.com/hashtag/intercultures

14:12 Dec 15, 2017 

Thanks for all the contributions. The only text that offers any kind of example is the following:
Cette année encore, de nouvelles variétés de vesce et de moutarde ont été inscrites à sa gamme.
It looks like they are both used as cover crops.

21:24 Dec 14, 2017 

Is this intercropping?: http://popups.ulg.ac.be/1780-4507/index.php?id=9730

20:13 Dec 14, 2017 

If they are being planted for intercropping purposes (using two or more plants to take advantage of some complementarity), they are intercropped, right? This would hold whether being used for textiles, foods or other purposes.

16:24 Dec 14, 2017 

@ phil,
the point I'm making is that these grasses can be used as fodder, can be perennial BUT can also be used as (temporary) cover crops themselves. I think we need more context here. So, I'd like some example of the "plantes d’intercultures"

15:35 Dec 14, 2017 

But it doesn't say that those species are "plantes d'intercultures". They are "plantes fourragères".

15:06 Dec 14, 2017 

yes it would be "cover crops" if the ground is being left fallow but that doesn't seem to be the case here as the plants mentioned are various types of perennial grasses "ray-grass anglais, ray-grass d’Italie, dactyle, fétuque élevée" and no cover crop or green manure is mentioned.

14:31 Dec 14, 2017 

I agree, Gabrielle. Inercropping is growing different crops side by side, and it's a cultivation technique.

09:15 Dec 14, 2017 

intercropping = culture intercalaire, dixit INRA glossary. "Plantes d'interculture" looks like a back-translation of the English. Your "plantes d'interculture" might simply also be cover crops in the rotation cycle