Effect of Tillage Systems on the Yield and Quality of Winter Wheat Grain and Soil Properties

Andrzej Woźniak and Leszek Rachoń
Additional contact information
Andrzej Woźniak: Department of Herbology and Plant Cultivation Techniques, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland
Leszek Rachoń: Department of Plant Production Technology and Commodities Science, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the yield and quality of winter wheat grain and soil properties in three tillage systems (TS): (1) Conventional (CT), (2) reduced (RT), and (3) no-tillage (NT). In the CT system, shallow ploughing (at a depth of 10–12 cm from soil surface) and pre-sow ploughing (at a depth of 18–22 cm from soil surface) were performed after the harvest of the previous crop (peas). In the RT system, the shallow ploughing was replaced by field cultivation, whereas pre-sow ploughing was by a tillage unit. In the NT system, a herbicide treatment with glyphosate (4 L ha −1 ) replaced the ploughing measures, whereas a tillage unit including a cultivator, a string roller, and a harrow was used before wheat sowing. Higher wheat yields were recorded in CT than in NT (by 4.3%) and in 2016 compared to 2015 (by 23.4%). The tillage system differentiated spike number m −2 , whereas study years affected spike number m −2 , grain weight per spike, and 1000 grain weight. Study years also influenced all quality traits of the grain, whereas tillage systems—only grain uniformity and ash content of the grain. A less uniform grain with a higher ash content was produced in NT than in CT and RT systems. Organic C content in the soil was higher in NT than in CT and RT systems. In turn, total nitrogen and phosphorus contents were higher in the soil from NT and RT than CT, whereas potassium and magnesium contents—in RT and NT compared to the CT system.

Keywords: grain quality; yield components; soil tillage; winter wheat; soil properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/9/405/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/9/405/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:9:p:405-:d:412941

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().