Although organic crop production has numerous advantages, concerns about economic sustainability, both environmental and financial, make farmers reluctant to convert their conventional production into the organic production. Certain agricultural methods, such as second crop use, can alleviate some problems regarding soil tilth, erosion prevention, nutrients availability and weed control, thus contributing toward more sustainable crop production. Also, the added value crop growth, such as maize (Zea mais L.) hybrid\u27s parental line production, with lower yields but higher prices, can contribute to sustainability of organic production. In order to test the hypothesis that the use of second crops can contribute toward the sustainability of organically grown maize after soybean (Glycine max L.) as a previous crop in the crop rotation, the experimental site was established in Valpovo, Croatia, in the eutric brown soil type, during the years 2005 and 2006. The experimental design was set up as a CRBD in four repetitions, with six second crop treatments: CT – Control, without second crop; WW – winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) second crop; RY – rye (Secale cereale L.) second crop; FP – fodder pea (Pisum arvense L.) second crop; WP – mixture of WW and FP; and RP – mixture of RY and FP. In order to assess the soil surface protection and evaluate the weed suppression, the second crop coverage had been recorded. Regarding the economic sustainability, the second crop use depending costs were analysed in relation to the extra produced maize yield. The RY treatment had the highest profitability, followed by WW, RP and O. The WP and FP revealed lower relative profitability than O, thus presenting the evidence of sustainability risk of these treatments.Premda ekološka poljoprivreda ima brojnih prednosti, zabrinutost zbog održivosti, i ekološke i ekonomske, farmere često odvraća od prijelaza s konvencionalne proizvodnje na ekološku. Intenzifikacijom plodoreda uporabom postrnih usjeva, mogu ukloniti neke probleme vezane za ugorenost tla, prevenciju erozije, dostupnost hraniva i suzbijanje korova, doprinoseći na taj način održivosti proizvodnje usjeva. Također, uzgoj usjeva s dodatnom vrijednošću, kao što su roditeljske linije za proizvodnju hibrida kukuruza (Zea mais L.), s nižim prinosima ali višom cijenom, može pridonijeti održivosti (profitabilnosti) ekološke proizvodnje. U namjeri da se potvrdi hipoteza da postrni usjevi mogu doprinijeti održivosti ekološkog uzgoja kukuruza u dvopoljnom plodoredu sa sojom (Glycine max L.) kao prethodnim usjevom, postavljeno je pokušalište u Valpovu, Hrvatska, na eutričnom smeđem tlu, tijekom 2005. i 2006. godine. Pokus je postavljen kao potpuno slučajan blok raspored u četiri ponavljanja, sa šest tretmana postrnih usjeva: CT – kontrola, bez postrnih usjeva; WW – ozima pšenica (Triticum aestivum L.); RY – ozima raž (Secale cereale L.); FP – stočni grašak (Pisum arvense L.); WP – smjesa WW i FP; te RP – smjesa RY i FP. U cilju određivanja zaštite površine tla i evaluacije suzbijanja korova, zabilježena je pokrivenost postrnim usjevima. Glede isplativosti, analizirani su relativni troškovi upotrebe postrnih usjeva u odnosu na dodatno proizvedeni urod kukuruza. RY tretman je zabilježio najvišu profitabilnost, a pratili su ga tretmani WW, RP i O. Tretmani WP i FP pokazali su se manje profitabilni od O, time pružajući dokaze o rizičnoj održivosti ovih tretmana
