The effect of soil tillage system on winter wheat yielding at 3-year crop rotation on black turf soil

Dorota Gawęda

Abstract

The studies were designed to evaluate the impact of soil tillage system interactive with differentiated tillage depth on winter wheat yielding. The aim was realized on the basis of a 3-year strict field experiment carried out over the years 2001–2003 on black turf soil at the Experimental Farm Uhrusk, a part of the Agricultural University in Lublin. The experiment covered three-year crop rotation: potato–winter wheat–soya bean. The experiment included two research factors: 1. Soil tillage system: plough and ploughless, 2. Soil tillage depth: deep and shallow. In the plough system, soil tillage under wheat included harrowing, mineral fertilizers NPK sowing, pre-sowing ploughing (at differentiated depth, i.e. 20 and 10 cm ), harrowing, seed sowing and the following harrowing. In spring, immediately before the vegetation outset, ammonium nitrate was sown followed by harrowing and later, the next nitrate fertilizer dose was applied. In the ploughless system, after potato harvesting the following treatments were performed: harrowing, rigid-tine cultivation (at differentiated depth – 15 and 8 cm), mineral fertilizer NPK sowing and mixing them up with soil by the cultivation set followed by seed sowing and harrowing. In winter the same agrotechnical practices were performed as in the plough system. The length of experimental period proved to exert a significant impact on the yielding and all the analyzed parameters of its structure. The soil tillage systems differentitated only ear density per m2 of winter wheat. The plough system had a more beneficial influence on this feature. Soil tillage depth did not affect any of the features mentioned in a significant way.