A long-term comparison of ploughing, tine cultivation and direct drilling on the growth and yield of winter cereals and oilseed rape on clayey and silty soils

1990 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. Christian ◽  
E.T.G. Bacon
1980 ◽  
Vol 94 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Q. Cannell ◽  
F. B. Ellis ◽  
D. G. Christian ◽  
J. P. Graham ◽  
J. T. Douglas

SummaryThe effects of direct drilling, shallow cultivation and ploughing on the growth of winter cereals (wheat and oats) are reported for the first 4 years of long-term experiments on two non-calcareous clay soils (stagnogleys), representative of soils occupying a large proportion of the cereal growing area of the U.K. These 4 years have been characterized by extreme contrasts in rainfall and wetness of the soil.On a Lawford series soil, with 35% clay, although the treatments affected average grain yields none of the differences was large. With additional nitrogen fertilizer, the yield after direct drilling was significantly heavier by 6% than after ploughing. On the Denchworth series, with 50% clay, 4 year average yields were also similar after direct drilling and ploughing, but in individual years the treatments had large effects. In two wet years grain yields after direct drilling were 89 and 82% of those after ploughing, but in another year they exceeded by 16% those after ploughing, where lodging had restricted grain filling. In the unusually dry season of 1975–6 yields of winter wheat after direct drilling exceeded those after ploughing (by 14 and 6% on the Lawford and Denchworth soils respectively) and this was attributed to greater availability of water and deeper rooting in the spring. In a year of heavy wheat yields (1977–8) about 10t/ha was achieved on both soils irrespective of the method of cultivation. In this year, after prolonged wet soil conditions in winter, the response to additional nitrogen fertilizer was greater after direct drilling and shallow cultivation than after ploughing.The concentration of nitrogen in the crops tended to be smaller throughout the growing season after direct drilling than after ploughing, especially on the Denchworth soil in the wettest season. The method of cultivation had no effect on the uptake of either phosphorus or potassium except on the heavier soil in the wettest year, when potassium uptake was restricted after direct drilling.The results are discussed in relation to information on soil conditions and root growth also being obtained in these experiments.


1995 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
GJ Mitchell ◽  
RJ Carter ◽  
SR Chinner

Water-dropwort (Oenanthe pimpinelloides L.), a tuberous perennial herb, is currently known in South Australia from only a single locality in the Mount Lofty Ranges. There is little information on water-dropwort control, and 2 experiments were conducted to assess the effects of sowing pasture, with or without presowing herbicides, on the control of this weed. Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.) and perennial clovers were successfully introduced into infested pastures by direct drilling in autumn. Water-dropwort regenerated from seed more densely in unsown plots than plots of established perennial pasture, suggesting that upgrading pastures may be a strategy to reduce the rate of spread by seed of this weed. A range of herbicide treatments applied to waterdropwort at the stem elongation stage in spring before autumn sowing of pastures provided effective shortterm control. The best short-term control was provided by glyphosate at 1440 g a.i./ha; metsulfuron methyl at 6, 12, and 36 g a.i./ha; and metsulfuron methyl at 12 g a.i./ha tank-mixed with glyphosate or 2,4-D amine at 720 or 1000 g a.i./ha, respectively. These treatments, and chlorsulfuron at 21 g a.i./ha, also significantly (P<0.05) reduced water-dropwort abundance (relative to untreated areas) for up to 18 months after sowing and initially improved the density of sown pasture species, but these improvements were not evident 14 months after resowing. Although prior season herbicide treatments controlled water-dropwort in newly sown pastures, 2 separate applications of herbicides, in May and October, gave no better control of water-dropwort than a single herbicide application in spring. Water-dropwort infestations do not appear to prevent successful direct drilling of phalaris and perennial clovers. Although pasture renovation did not provide long-term suppression of water-dropwort, the maintenance of vigorous pastures may reduce the rate of population growth from seedlings of this weed. Recropping restrictions may limit the role of chlorsulfuron for water-dropwort control in pasture renovation situations.


2003 ◽  
Vol 141 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. W. LUTMAN ◽  
S. E. FREEMAN ◽  
C. PEKRUN

The present paper reports on three sets of experiments exploring the persistence of seeds of oilseed rape (Brassica napus). The first, where known numbers of seeds were buried in September 1991 in two field experiments, demonstrated substantial initial losses of seeds, such that only 0·2 and 3·8% of seeds were still present after 4 months. In these experiments, which were not disturbed by mechanical cultivation, there was little evidence of further decline over the following 13 months. In the second of the two experiments, seeds were then left undisturbed for a further 136 months. A mean of 1·8% of seeds were still present after this period, providing further confirmation of the lack of decline in seed numbers in these undisturbed conditions. In the second pair of experiments, known numbers of seeds of three rape cultivars were broadcast onto plots and then either ploughed into the soil immediately after the start of the experiments, or were exposed to weekly shallow tine cultivation followed by ploughing after 4 weeks. The former created a larger seedbank than the latter. The experiments were then ploughed, annually (Expt 1) or at less frequent intervals (Expt 2); appreciable numbers of seeds survived for 65 months in both. Calculations based on exponential decline curves indicated that 95% seed loss would take 15–39 months, depending on the site, cultivar and initial post-harvest stubble treatment. The third part of the paper is based on more detailed studies of persistence of seeds of six cultivars in Petri dishes and buried in 25 cm pots. This work confirmed that cultivars differed in their persistence, as Apex was confirmed as highly persistent, whereas Rebel was short-lived. There were inconsistencies in the response of cultivar Synergy between the Petri-dish and pot experiment, which need further study. This experiment also reinforced the conclusion of the initial field experiments that little seed loss occurs in the absence of cultivations. Appreciable numbers of rape seeds will persist up to 4 years, in normal cropping conditions and in the absence of cultivation one experiment has confirmed persistence for over 11 years.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Li ◽  
Qiuxiang Wen ◽  
Shiyu Zhang ◽  
Na Li ◽  
Jinfeng Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims The objectives of this study were to examine the long-term substitution of mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizers with manure (M) plus nitrogen (N) fertilizers and how they affect the forms of P that occur in soil, soil P distribution, and plant growth.Methods We used a solution of 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (31P-NMR) spectroscopy to study the correlations between long-term fertilization regimes and the forms of P that occur at different soil depths. Then we investigated yield, plant growth, and soil properties.Results A 40-year field experiment showed that the use of M + N fertilizers can significantly improve plant growth and yield. The proportion of organic P in the 20-40 cm soil layer was significantly increased by long-term M fertilization. The concentrations of various forms of P (orthophosphate, pyrophosphate, diesters, monoesters, and total inositol hexakisphosphate, IHP) in topsoil increased significantly with the combination of M with N + P mineral fertilization. The addition of M greatly increased the stereoisomers of IHP (myo-IHP, scyllo-IHP, neo-IHP, and D-chiro-IHP) and the proportion and concentration of corrected diesters. There were no significant differences in the pyrophosphate contents of the 40-60 cm soil layer according to fertilization type and year of fertilization. There were also no significant differences in IHP stereoisomers and diesters according to fertilization year. The P forms that contributed to corn yield were orthophosphate, diester, and IHP. Further, pyrophosphate made no significant contribution to corn growth. Conclusions Over the long-term, pig manure can significantly increase the amount of orthophosphate that is directly absorbed by crops and the amount of IHP stereoisomers that can be used by plants. Orthophosphate and IHP are the two key factors that have a positive effect on plant growth.


1985 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Chaney ◽  
D. R. Hodgson ◽  
M. A. Braim

SummaryPhysical measurements were made on the soil of a long-term cultivation experiment comparing direct drilling, tine cultivation and mouldboard ploughing for spring barley to investigate possible reasons for differences in yield. The soil was a typical argillio brown earth, approximately 90 cm of sandy clay loam topsoil and clay loam subsoil overlying magnesian limestone. For the three periods 1971–4, 1975–7 and 1978–80 the mean grain yields were marginally lower after direct drilling than after shallow cultivation or ploughing. There was an average decline in yield of 1·33 t/ha from the first to the last period, the decline being greater for direct drilling than the other two tillage systems. Although the surface horizon (0–5 cm) of direct-drilled soil had a higher content of organic matter than the ploughed, this did not increase the stability of the aggregates. Slaking tests had shown the soil to be inherently unstable and likely to suffer from structural problems. After the first 3 years bulk density of direct-drilled soil (0–15 cm) increased markedly to ca. l·5 g/cm8 and then remained relatively stable. In the ploughed soil, density increased steadily over the period to an average value of co. 1·45 g/cm8. Tine cultivation to 7–8 cm reduced cone resistance values in the surface compared with direct-drilled soil but below 15 cm there were no significant differences. Ploughing gave significantly lower values than direct drilling to a depth of 30 cm. Measurements of pore sizes in direct-drilled and ploughed soil were highly variable with few significant differences. Mean air capacity values (1978–80) tended to be lower in direct-drilled than in ploughed topsoil particularly for plots direct drilled after 7 years of deep tine cultivation. A limited number of root measurements in 1978 and 1980 showed that the length of root per unit of ground area was much less after direct drilling than after ploughing. Shallow cultivation, surprisingly, gave most root with a greater proportion of the root system below 20 cm than in the other two treatments. The classification of this soil according to its suitability for direct drilling cereals is discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (9) ◽  
pp. 1007-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Castle ◽  
Aaron Weiskittel ◽  
Robert Wagner ◽  
Mark Ducey ◽  
Jereme Frank ◽  
...  

Northern hardwood species display a variety of forms and defects that can reduce stem quality and complicate their timber management. However, for the most part, growth and yield models do not account for the influence of stem form and damage. This study determined the influence of stem form and damage on growth, survival, and projected future sawlog value among several northern commercial hardwood species. To accomplish this, hardwood trees on 112 permanent plots across three long-term research sites in Maine were assigned stem form and risk classes using a tree classification system developed in New Brunswick. A highly significant influence of stem form and risk on annualized individual-tree diameter increment and survival was found. Inclusion of these equations into a regional growth and yield model highlighted the importance of stem form and defects on long-term simulations as projected stand-level future value was significantly reduced by over 17%, on average (range of 13% to 28%), when compared with projections that did not include that tree-level information. The results highlight the importance of stem form and defects, as well as the need to account for them, in growth and yield applications that assess the forecasted value of commercially important hardwood stands.


1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
K. Leroy Dolph ◽  
Gary E. Dixon

Abstract Erroneous predictions of forest growth and yield may result when computer simulation models use extrapolated data in repeated or long-term projections or if the models are used outside the range of data on which they were built. Bounding functions that limit the predicted diameter and height growth of individual trees to maximum observed values were developed to constrain these erroneous predictions in a forest growth and yield simulator. Similar techniques could be useful for dealing with extrapolated data in other types of simulation models. West. J. Appl. For. 8(1):24-27.


Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 919
Author(s):  
Luping Huang ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Ruier Zeng ◽  
Xinyue Wang ◽  
Huajian Zhang ◽  
...  

Drought negatively affects the growth and yield of terrestrial crops. Seed priming, pre-exposing seed to a compound, could induce improved tolerance and adaptation to stress in germinated plants. To understand the effects and regulatory mechanism of seed priming with brassinosteroid (BR) on peanut plants, we treated seeds with five BR concentrations and examined dozens of physiological and biochemical features, and transcriptomic changes in leaves under well-watered and drought conditions. We found optimal 0.15 ppm BR priming could reduce inhibitions from drought and increase the yield of peanut, and priming effects are dependent on stage of plant development and duration of drought. BR priming induced fewer differentially expressed genes (DEGs) than no BR priming under well-watered condition. Drought with BR priming reduced the number of DEGs than drought only. These DEGs were enriched in varied gene ontologies and metabolism pathways. Downregulation of DEGs involved in both light perceiving and photosynthesis in leaves is consistent with low parameters of photosynthesis. Optimal BR priming partially rescued the levels of growth promoting auxin and gibberellin which were largely reduced by drought, and increased levels of defense associated abscisic acid and salicylic acid after long-term drought. BR priming induced many DEGs which function as kinase or transcription factor for signal cascade under drought. We proposed BR priming-induced regulatory responses will be memorized and recalled for fast adaptation in later drought stress. These results provide physiological and regulatory bases of effects of seed priming with BR, which can help to guide the framing improvement under drought stress.


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