La culture associée de blé et de pois protéagineux d'hiver : une possibilité de diversification pour une agriculture durable et respectueuse de l'environnement.

Crops in association cereals - legumes are integrated into the ecologically intensive agriculture approaches. The Crop Production Unit of Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (ULg, Belgium) study how to optimize the intercropping conduct of winter peas and winter wheat in temperate climate. This optimization is possible with the respect of cultural itineraries, adapted for conventional and organic systems, to take advantage of the complementarity of the two species and to regulate interspecific competitions. They have been developed over the last six years into a research project funded by the Service Public de Wallonie Agriculture. Thanks to a choice of varieties and sowing densities, they take advantage of the ecosystem offered by the combination of the two cultivated plants, to limit the impact of the different bio-aggressors and to use only very small quantities of phytosanitary products and fertilizers.

These crops allow producing more safely grains and protein in higher quantities than the two crops separated on the same surface. It meets the expectations of society: to produce better with fewer inputs and in an agroecological system. In Belgium, this crop is currently in the development phase according with the industrial demands for the supply of vegetable protein from sustainable agriculture. After a sorting operation, the superior quality of wheat can be integrated into milling while the pea is used for vegetable protein extraction by bio refining.