Common Vetch

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Common Vetch

"Vicia heterophylla" redirects here, based on the plant described by Carl Presl. The plant thus named by V.N. Voroshilov is Vicia japonica as described by Asa Gray
Asa Gray

Asa Gray is considered the most important United States botany of the 19th century.He was instrumental in unifying the taxonomy knowledge of the plants of North America....
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Common Vetch (Vicia sativa), also known as Tare or simply "the vetch", is a nitrogen fixing leguminous
Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
plant. Although considered a weed
WEED

WEED is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA, it serves the area. The station is currently owned by Northstar Broadcasting Corporation....
when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy
Hardy

Hardy may refer to:...
plant is often grown as green manure
Green manure

In agriculture, a green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period, and then plowed under and incorporated into the soil....
or livestock
Livestock

Livestock is the term used to refer to a domesticated animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce things such as food or fibre, or for its labour....
fodder
Fodder

In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs....
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Encyclopedia

"Vicia heterophylla" redirects here, based on the plant described by Carl Presl. The plant thus named by V.N. Voroshilov is Vicia japonica as described by Asa Gray
Asa Gray

Asa Gray is considered the most important United States botany of the 19th century.He was instrumental in unifying the taxonomy knowledge of the plants of North America....
.

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa), also known as Tare or simply "the vetch", is a nitrogen fixing leguminous
Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
plant. Although considered a weed
WEED

WEED is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA, it serves the area. The station is currently owned by Northstar Broadcasting Corporation....
when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy
Hardy

Hardy may refer to:...
plant is often grown as green manure
Green manure

In agriculture, a green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Typically, a green manure crop is grown for a specific period, and then plowed under and incorporated into the soil....
or livestock
Livestock

Livestock is the term used to refer to a domesticated animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce things such as food or fibre, or for its labour....
fodder
Fodder

In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs....
. There is no firm evidence that this is the same as the "tare" in some English translations of the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
– ryegrass
Ryegrass

Ryegrass is a genus of nine species of tufted grasses, family Poaceae. Also called tares , these plants are native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa, but are widely cultivated and naturalised elsewhere....
(Lolium) is another candidate.

There are at least four subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
generally accepted:
Vicia sativa ssp. cordata (Hoppe) Asch. & Graebn.
Vicia sativa ssp. nigra (L.) Ehrh. – Narrow-leaved Vetch (= ssp./var. angustifolia, ssp. consobrina, ssp. cordata (Hoppe) Batt., ssp. cuneata, ssp. heterophylla, var. minor, var. nigra)
Vicia sativa ssp. sativa (= var. linearis, ssp. notata)
Vicia sativa ssp. segetalis (Thuill.) Arcang. (sometimes included in ssp. nigra)

Cultivation
When intended as fodder, the seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
is sown
Sowing

Sowing is the process of planting seeds.However, before sowing, good quality seeds should be selected to produce a high yield....
densely, up to 250 kg/hectare. However, when grown for seed, less seed should be used; otherwise the crop will be too thick, reducing flower and seed production. When meant for seed, sowing is done early in the planting season for good returns; but, when for green food, any time between the first of April and the latter end of May is suitable. Sometimes, a full crop can be obtained even when sown as late as mid-June, though sowing so late is not recommended.

After the seed is sown and the land carefully harrow
Harrow (tool)

In agriculture, a set of harrows is an implement for cultivating the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, which is used for deeper cultivation....
ed, a light roller
Roller (agricultural tool)

The roller is an agriculture tool used for flattening land or breaking up large clumps of soil, especially after tillage. Typically, rollers are pulled by tractors or, prior to mechanisation, a team of animals such as horses or cattle....
ought to be drawn across, to smooth the surface and permit the scythe
Scythe

A scythe is an agriculture hand tool for mowing grass or reaping agriculture. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia....
to work without interruption. Also, the field should be watched for several days to prevent pigeons, which are remarkably fond of tares, from devouring much of the sown seed.

Horse
Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
s thrive very well on Common Vetch, even better than on clover
Clover

Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics....
and rye grass; the same applies to fattening cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
, which feed faster on vetch than on most grasses
Poaceae

Poaceae or Gramineae is a family in the Class Liliopsida of the Magnoliophyta. Plants of this family are usually called grasses; the shrub- or tree-like plants in this family are called bamboo ....
or other edible plants. Danger often arises from livestock eating too much vetch, especially when podded; colic
Colic

Colic is a form of pain in the abdomen which starts and stops abruptly....
s and other stomach
Stomach

In most mammals, the stomach is a hollow muscular organ of the gastrointestinal tract involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication....
disorders are apt to be produced by the excessive loads devoured.

History
Common Vetch has also been part of the human diet, as attested by carbonised remains found at early Neolithic
Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
sites in Syria, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia. It has also been reported from predynastic sites of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
, and several Bronze Age sites in Turkmenia and Slovakia. However, definite evidence for later vetch cultivation is available only for Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
times.