The study results of the farming system of direct sowing (no-till) when growing winter wheat in the Central Steppe of the Crimea

Abstract

Winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a valuable grain crop. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effect of the direct sowing system (no-till, technology without tillage), in comparison with the one recommended for the zone of the Central Steppe of the Crimea, on the agrophysical characteristics of the soil, weed infestation of the plots and winter wheat productivity. The trial was laid in 2015, the study began to be carried out in 2017. In the trials there was studied the winter wheat variety ‘Asket'. The soil of the experimental plot was southern blackearth (chernozem) with 2.0-2.1% of humus, with 2.0-2.7 mg of labile phosphorus per 100 g of soil and 25-30 mg of exchangeable potassium per 100 g of soil. The total area of the plot was 300 m2, the accounting area was 50 m2 with threefold repetition. The average annual air temperature was 10.4 °С, the average annual precipitation was 428 mm. Mathematical processing was carried out according to the Dospekhov's method. The direct sowing in 2017-2019 contributed to the accumulation of available moisture in the soil when growing winter wheat. During the autumn-winter period, there were accumulated 46 mm, which was two times more than in the control variant. The direct sowing did not affect the weed species' composition. Their number in the variants with no-tillage increased by 6.1 pcs/m2. The soil density when sowing in the 0-30 cm layer was at the same level in terms of technologies. During the renewal of the spring vegetation there was soil softening and, on average, over the layers, this parameter was at the level of optimal values. The number of agronomically valuable aggregates was on 2.5% higher with direct sowing than in the control variant. The structural coefficient in the control variant was 2.7, and with no-till it was 3.2. The productivity in the control variant was 3.86 t/ha, and in the direct sowing it was 3.30 t/ha, which was on 0.56 t/ha (14.5%) more in the control variant than in the studied variant.