Exploring the Effects of Different Stubble Tillage Practices and Glyphosate Application Combined with the New Soil Residual Herbicide Cinmethylin against Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. in Winter Wheat

Effective control of Alopecurus myosuroides Huds. (blackgrass) solely with a chemical treatment is not guaranteed anymore because populations exhibit resistance to almost all herbicide modes of action. Integrated weed management (IWM) against blackgrass is necessary to maintain high weed control efficacies in winter cereals. Four field experiments were conducted in Southwest Germany from 2018 to 2020 to control A. myosuroides with a combination of cultural and chemical methods. Stubble treatments, including flat, deep and inversion soil tillage; false seedbed preparation and glyphosate use, were combined with the application of the new pre-emergence herbicide cinmethylin in two rates in winter wheat. Average densities of A. myosuroides in the untreated control plots were up to 505 plants m−2. The combination of different stubble management strategies and the pre-emergence herbicide cinmethylin controlled 86–97% of A. myosuroides plants at the low rate and 95–100% at the high rate until 120 days after sowing. The different stubble tillage practices varied in their efficacy between trials and years. Most effective and consistent were pre-sowing glyphosate application on the stubble and stale seedbed preparation with a disc harrow. Stubble treatments increased winter wheat density in the first year but had no effect on crop density in the second year. Pre-emergence application of cinmethylin did not reduce winter wheat densities. Multiple tactics of weed control, including stubble treatments and pre-emergence application of cinmethylin, provided higher and more consistent control of A. myosuroides. Integration of cultural weed management could prevent the herbicide resistance development.

Kinematic and Dynamic Modeling of the Rotary Harrow

The actual energy situation and the significant energy demand of agricultural production require the exploration and analysis of the general laws of the main processes in the field of energy, which is part of the borderline between the technical sciences and the agricultural sciences. Tillage machines change the physical properties of the soil, but at the same time the mechanical properties of the soil react to the implement. One of the basic works of seedbed preparation is harrowing. In this work we study the kinematics and dynamics of the active rotary harrow implements, taking into account the cutting resistance of the soil. The results obtained with the developed modeling methods, give reliable approximations to the experienced tilling processes.

The Ways to Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Enterprises

In the modern world a person strives for an industrial society more and more, accumulating power and trying to enclose them in one machine that would perform several operations in one pass over the field surface. So there are implements performing tillage with application of fertilizers or soil cultivation with simultaneous planting and application of fertilizers. Using such implements allows to reduce costs for further cultivation of crops. However, the stake placed on soil preparation and application of fertilizers can not always give the desired effect without due attention to the seed material and technical maintenance. That is why seedbed preparation, the seed material and machines are the main problems of high technology society.

Active-passive and passive-passive configurations of combined tillage implements for improved tillage and tractive performance: A review

Proper selection of energy-efficient agricultural machinery helps to reduce drudgery, increase cropping intensity and reduce time required for field preparation. With conventional tillage implements, multiple passes are required to obtain desired seedbed which increase soil compaction due to repeated movement of tractor in field. With combined tillage implements two or more tillage implements are combined to reduce time and fuel energy required for seedbed preparation. In this paper, various researches on active-passive and passive-passive configurations of combined tillage implements have been discussed along with their working principles. It was found that these were associated with less draft, specific energy, and tire slippage compared to conventional implements which provides a sound basis for using them with suitable engine power to improve the power utilization of tractors. Hence, use of these implements could help to reduce soil compaction, labour, fuel cost as well as save time in preparing seedbed. More analytical studies and classical approaches are needed to predict energy requirements of these implements from the knowledge of individual energy requirements of conventional implements to help in proper matching of tractor-implement and also to develop decision support systems. Considering their promising outcomes, they will emerge as effective tools to improve agricultural mechanization.

Technological Solutions and Specific Equipment for Improving the Degraded Grasslands by Total Reseeding

The scientific basis and the development of research on new solutions for organic production of fodder and their conversion into animal products with high biological value, maintaining biodiversity and environmental protection, have created the premises for promoting new technologies to improve, rehabilitate and enhance the grasslands, which are in accordance with a sustainable and efficient agriculture practice. In this chapter the technological solutions and technical equipment for improving the permanent grasslands by total renovation, specific to each stationary area conditions, are presented. The basis of new technologies or technological sequences for improving the degraded grasslands is composition and utilization of complex aggregates, consisting of specific machines and equipment, using the recent research achievements in the field of grassland farming. It is also intended that the proposed technological solutions eliminate or limit the effect of external restrictive factors so as to ensure a high feed production and a high feed value, meeting the agrotechnical requirements for each agricultural component operation. For highlighting the advantages of using the specific machines, traditional technologies, within are used common farming machines and new technologies, when are used specific machinery for grassland farming, are analyzed in comparison. To improve the degraded grasslands by reseeding method, new technologies and technological sequences use different complex aggregates, which perform in a pass 2 or even 3 operations, such as: clearing of non-valuable vegetation, hillocks and liming; tillage and liming; seedbed preparation and spreading the chemical fertilizers; rolling before sowing, sowing, rolling after sowing; the destruction of the old grass carpet, seedbed preparing, sowing and rolling after sowing and fertilization with chemical fertilizers; fertilization with chemical fertilizers, rolling before sowing, sowing and rolling after sowing. Compared to traditional technologies, new technologies and technological sequences for improving the degraded grasslands, require reduced fuel consumption and labor, with a lower number of aggregate passes.

Simulation of Sowing Precision in Laboratory Conditions

In agrotechnical practice, it was found that between qualitative indices, which express the sowing precision achieved by precision planters determined in the laboratory, and those determined under operating conditions, that there are certain differences, which are sometimes quite significant. The decrease in the value of the quality indices was manifested by the increase of the number of mistakes, either of the number of double planting holes (with at least two seeds), or of the number of missing planting holes. Both cases are unfavorable for the agricultural producer, generating production losses. This paper discusses the influence of the degree of soil grinding on sowing precision in operating conditions, by determining the spectrum of the vibrations induced in the mechanical structure of row units of a precision planter in contact with the soil of three different plots for three working speeds: 4, 6, and 8 km·h−1. Later, the vibrations were simulated under laboratory conditions, on the stand, by means of rubber hemispheres (with diameters between 30 and 100 mm, corresponding to soil fractions resulting from the determination of the degree of soil grinding) mounted on rubber bands, which actuated the seed meters, for testing under an accelerated regime, outside of the optimal agricultural periods (out of season: beginning mid-May until the end of March), in order to obtain the accuracy of the precision planters. It was found that the sowing precision determined in stationary conditions on the stand, and on a plot with an appropriate degree of seedbed preparation, decreased between 2.92% (at 4 km·h−1) and 6.67% (at 8 km·h−1). The main objective of the tests was to reduce labor costs, which was necessary for the staff involved for determining the qualitative indices of work in real field operating conditions, eliminating fuel consumption, while reducing the duration of testing dependent on meteorological factors (season, temperatures, and precipitation, etc.).

Conventional and Conservation Seedbed Preparation Systems for Wheat Planting in Silty-Clay Soil

Conventional seedbed preparation is based on deep ploughing followed by lighter and finer secondary tillage of the superficial layer, normally performed by machines powered by the tractor’s Power Take-Off (PTO), which prepares the seedbed in a single pass. Conservation methods are based on a wide range of interventions, such as minimum or no-tillage, by means of machines with passive action working tools which require two or more passes The aim of this study was to assess both the power-energy requirements of conventional (power harrows and rotary tillers with different working width) and conservation implements (disks harrow and combined cultivator) and the soil tillage quality parameters, with reference to the capability of preparing an optimal seedbed for wheat planting. Field tests were carried out on flat, silty-clay soil, using instrumented tractors. The test results showed significant differences among the operative performances of the two typologies of machines powered by the tractor’s PTO: the fuel consumption, the power and the energy requirements of the rotary tillers are strongly higher than power harrows. However, the results also showed a decrease of these parameters proceeding from conventional to more conservation tillage implements. The better quality of seedbed was provided by the rotary tillers.

Winter Wheat and Spring Barley Canopies under Strip-Till One-Pass Technology

Modern agriculture promotes non-inversion, ploughless tillage systems, and simplified plant cultivation methods. Environmentally friendly plant production technologies must nevertheless guarantee high yields of good quality. In the years 2017/18–2019/20, studies were carried out in which it was assumed that these conditions could be met by strip soil tillage with simultaneous application of fertilisers and paired-row sowing (strip-till one-pass (ST-OP). Two field experiments were conducted to compare two cereal cultivation technologies: ploughless, non-inversion tillage, seedbed preparation, entire-surface fertilisation, and narrowly spaced row sowing (PL-ES); and ST-OP, with two narrow spaced rows (12 cm apart) in a strip of tilled (paired-row sowing), fertilised soil, and a 24.4-cm-wide inter-row of untilled soil. Fields of winter wheat and spring barley were investigated, assessing plant density and spatial variation, plant height, yield components, and yield. The morphological and physiological indices of the plants and canopies determined were leaf area index (LAI), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), leaf stomatal conductance, and relative chlorophyll content in leaves. The ST-OP technology provides uniform planting in the canopy, especially under conditions of insufficient rainfall. Fields of winter wheat and spring barley cultivated by this method featured shorter plants with more stalks with spikes, and spikes with greater weight and number of grains, than in the fields of cereals grown under PL-ES. The LAI and PAR indices in the narrow inter-rows were similar to the PL-ES technology and higher than in the wide, untilled inter-rows. Leaves of cereals grown under ST-OP contained more chlorophyll and had a higher leaf stomatal conductance. This technology, which provides higher winter wheat and spring barley yields, is an alternative to ploughless tillage with row sowing.