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Impact of Soil Tillage and Crop Rotation on Barley ( Hordeum vulgare ) and Weeds in a Semi‐arid Environment
Author(s) -
Ghosheh H. Z.,
AlHajaj N. A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of agronomy and crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.095
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-037X
pISSN - 0931-2250
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-037x.2004.00114.x
Subject(s) - chisel , plough , agronomy , tillage , hordeum vulgare , crop rotation , weed , minimum tillage , mathematics , weed control , biology , poaceae , crop , geography , archaeology
Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of mouldboard‐ or chisel‐ploughing and rotations on barley crops and associated weeds in a semi‐arid location. Two primary soil tillage operations and eight crop rotation‐tillage operation combinations were evaluated over two successive seasons. Drought conditions prevailed (<152 mm annual precipitation) and affected the measured parameters. Barley grown in mouldboard‐ploughed plots had higher biomass compared with chisel‐ploughed plots. Barley grain yield was greater in mouldboard‐ploughed plots in a fallow‐fallow‐barley rotation. Weed species densities varied between tillage systems and rotations. Density of Hordeum marinum , for example, was high in fallow‐barley‐fallow in chisel‐ploughed plots, and was high under more continuous fallow in mouldboard‐ploughed plots. Similar variations were also observed in weed fresh weights and in numbers of seed produced. The results describe the productivity of barley under extremely dry conditions, where an advantage for mouldboard ploughing was observed. The results also indicate the complexity of weed communities in their response towards different tillage‐rotation combinations.