The experiment was carried out in Slovenia in 2002-03 and 2004-05. The experimental design was a randomized completed block, with four replicates. In the summer after pea harvesting, 10, 20 and 30 kg of Italian ryegrass ha^-1 were drilled into minimally cultivated pea stubble, in which, on average, 12.5 pea grains m^-2 were left among crop residues. The ryegrass/pea mixtures in our experiments took up the soil mineral nitrogen the most efficiently and accumulated the highest amount of nitrogen in the autumn herbage yield, at a seeding rate of 30 kg drilled Italian ryegrass. The differences among treatments regarding 0–60 cm soil NO₃-N and NH₄-N contents were highest at the first cut and decreased until March of the next year. In order to achieve efficient early and high N uptake of mineralized nitrogen, it is not recommended to lower the sowing rates of Italian ryegrass for drilling into pea stubble to reduce the high cost of catch crop seeds.