The effect of agronomic measures on grain yield of winter wheat in drier conditions

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a year of cultivation and three agronomic measures (pre-crop, soil tillage, application of fungicides) on the yield of winter wheat grown in the crop rotation without the livestock production. The results from the years 2011-2017, except for the year 2012, from the Žabčice Field Experimental Station (49°01'20''N, 16°37'55''E) were evaluated. The soil texture is clay loam soil and the soil type is fluvisol. In the field trial, winter wheat was grown after two pre-crops (winter wheat, pea). Two soil tillage technologies, namely the conventional tillage - CT (ploughing - at a depth of 24 cm) and the minimum tillage - MT (shallow loosening - at a depth of 15 cm) were used. Two fungicide treatments against leaf and spikelet diseases were used, and they were compared to the non-treated variants. The obtained results showed that the grain yield of winter wheat was statistically influenced not only by a year of cultivation, but also by the pre-crop, the application of fungicides, and mostly by the interaction of these factors with the soil tillage. The importance of pea as a suitable pre-crop for winter wheat was confirmed as the grain yield was higher compared to winter wheat as a pre-crop by an average of 0.49 t/ha. It was also found that the MT is a more appropriate technology than the CT, on average by 0.12 t/ha over the six years. The importance of fungicide treatment was also confirmed, where the grain yield of winter wheat was higher by 0.26 t/ha compared to the non-treated variant. The presented results brought a new knowledge for winter wheat management practice in dry conditions.

Keywords

• triticum aestivum l.
• cereal
• weather
• legume
• farming system
• drought