Agricultural Science and Technology (Mar 2015)
Species composition and density of weeds in a wheat crop depending on the soil tillage system in crop rotation
Abstract
Abstract. The investigation was carried out in the trial field of Dobrudzha Agricultural Institute, General Toshevo on slightly leached chernozem soil type. For the purposes of this investigation, variants from a stationary field experiment initiated in 1987 and based on various soil tillage tools and operations were analyzed. The species composition and density of weeds were followed in a wheat crop grown after grain maize using the following soil tillage systems: plowing at 24 – 26 cm (for maize) – disking at 10 – 12 cm (for wheat); cutting at 24 – 26 cm (for maize) – cutting at 8 – 10 cm (for wheat); disking at 10 – 12 cm (for maize) – disking at 10 – 12 cm (for wheat); no-tillage (for maize) – no-tillage (for wheat).Weed infestation was read at the fourth rotation since the initiation of the trial. The observations were made in spring before treatment of the crop with herbicides. The soil tillage system had a significant effect on the species composition and density of weeds in the field with wheat grown after previous crop maize. The long-term alternation of plowing with disking in parallel with the usage of chemicals for weed control lead to lower weed infestation of the weed crop. The lower weed density after this soil tillage system was not related to changes in the species composition and the relative percent of the individual species in the total weed infestation. The long-term application in crop rotation of systems without turning of the soil layer and of minimal and no-tillage increased the amount of weeds. The reason is the greater variability of weed species which typically occur after shallow soil tillage.
