The impact of soil tillage minimization on sandy light loam soil
Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, Instituto al. 1, Akademija, Kėdainiai district, Lithuania;e-mail: dana@lzi.lt
Abstract:
Experiments conducted during the period 2001–2005 at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture, were designed to evaluate the effects of plough and ploughless soil tillage and methods of sowing on an Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisol and to estimate their effects on soil physical properties and cereal yield. The experiment was set up in 2001 after pea harvesting. Our experimental evidence suggests that different soil tillage and sowing methods had a significant effect on soil structure, soil bulk density, soil penetration resistance, total and air-filled porosity, soil moisture and yield. In cereal crop rotation when winter wheat had been direct drilled after peas into minimally tilled soil the yield increased by 9.7%, when it had been direct drilled the yield tended to increase, compared with conventional soil tillage; the spring barley yield was 14.7% and 7.9% lower compared with conventional tillage; when it had been direct drilled the yield tended to increase compared with conventional tillage. When oats were direct drilled a non-significant yield reduction trend was observed, and when sown into minimally tilled soil the yield was similar (5.77 t ha-1) to that produced in the conventional soil tillage treatment (5.84 t ha-1). When peas were grown, both these simplified tillage methods significantly declined the yield, when peas were direct drilled, the yield declined by 44.0% and by 21.7% when drilled into minimally tilled soil by a direct drill.
Key words:
crop yiel, direct drilling, soil physical properties, soil tillage