Effect of reduced tillage practices on yield, total protein content and weed infestation of winter barley
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A multi-year field experiment aimed to evaluate grain yield, yield structure elements, total protein content, and weed infestation indices of winter barley cultivated in a conventional tillage system (CT) and two no-tillage variants: (i) reduced without glyphosate (RT) and (ii) reduced with glyphosate (RT + G). Common peas served as the previous crop in each study year on all plots. Shallow ploughing and pre-sowing ploughing were applied in the CT system after previous crop harvest. In turn, cultivating instead of shallow ploughing and a cultivation unit (a cultivator + a string roller) instead of pre-sowing ploughing were used on RT plots. Finally, shallow ploughing was replaced by glyphosate treatment, whereas pre-sowing ploughing – by a cultivation unit in the RT + G system. A higher grain yield was determined on CT plots than RT and RT+G plots, i.e., by 18% and 23.3%, respectively. The grain yield was also observed to differ significantly between study years. Spike number and 1000 grain weight were differentiated by tillage practices, whereas plant number after emergence by study years. There were no differences in the protein content of winter barley grain as affected by the variants of tillage practices and study years. In contrast, the weeds produced a higher air-dry weight on RT plots than on CT and RT + G plots. Weed bio-diversity determined at the tillering stage was greater on RT than CT plots, whereas that assessed at the milk maturity stage on CT than RT + G plots. The weed diversity index was determined by study year in both terms of assessment.
Source: Agronomy Science
Author: Andrzej Woźniak
Institution: University of Life Sciences in Lublin
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $109
OpenAlex ID: W4406542050