Yield and quality of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) as affected by cover crop species and residue management

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of winter cover crops (hairy vetch, oat and oilseed rape) andtheir residue management (conventionally tilled and no-tilled soil) on eggplant yield and fruit quality.Hairy vetch residues showed high nitrogen accumulation, low C:N ratio and they improved the mar-ketable yield, size, firmness, dry matter and soluble solids content of eggplant fruit (var. Mirabella) aswell as potentially affecting pericarp color and lead to early fruit maturation. However, oat and oilseedrape residues showed poor nitrogen accumulation which affected both low eggplant yield and fruit qual-ity due to high phenol content causing significant changes in color after slicing. Titratable acidity did notdiffer among treatments, while pH was slightly higher in fruit from tilled than no-tilled soils. The resultssuggest that hairy vetch residues placed on the soil surface as organic mulch could effectively improveeggplant yield and fruit quality.