Strip-till as a means of decreasing spatial variability of winter barley within a field scale

ABSTRACT

The tillage system, which joins soil tillage, fertilisation, and seed sowing in one pass of a machine, is rarely used in cereal cultivation. This research aimed to study whether strip-till and conventional tillage (post-harvest ripping and mixing of stubble, ploughing, pre-sowing fertilisation, and seedbed preparation) differ in plant density, yield components, and grain yield of winter barley cultivated on Cambisol in a region with low rainfall, the annual average is about 500 mm. To reach this aim, a two-year, large-plot experiment was conducted in a production field. The soil within the field was spatially variable in texture, moisture, and chemical and biological properties, CV 2.3% do 29.6%. Strip-till had lower within-field spatial variability of winter barley grain yield than conventional tillage. The standard deviation was 0.36 t ha⁻¹, 0.67 t ha⁻¹ in the first year and 0.12 t ha⁻¹, 0.30 t ha⁻¹ in the second year, respectively. During the period of limited rainfall, strip-till had greater uniformity of plants after emergence; after the winter with low air temperature and a low amount of snow, it had greater plant density. Thus, strip-till can reduce variability of plants and their yield within a field, especially in adverse environmental conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Conservation tillage
• soil properties
• spatial plant uniformity
• winter cereal
• zone tillage

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the company, Agro-Land Marek Różniak in Śmielin, Poland, for allowing experimentation in their production field with the use of the strip-till drill by Mzuri Limited.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Iwona Jaskulska is an Associate Professor in the department of agronomy at the University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz. Her research focuses on elements of modern agrotechnical measure, including simplified tillage. Currently, she is researching on the environmental and economic conditions of strip-till technology.

Dr Anna Gałązka is the head of the Department of Agricultural Microbiology at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation - State Research Institute Pulawy, Poland. She has specialised in the evaluation of microbial diversity of soils associated with agricultural practice and environmental protection.

Dariusz Jaskulski is a Professor in the field of agricultural sciences. He works in the department of agronomy at the University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He is the author or co-author of over 100 scientific and popular science papers in the field of agronomy, including the methods of soil cultivation and their impact on soil properties, plant growth and yield, and the economic and organisational effects of field crop production.