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Direct drilling compared with ploughing for winter wheat grown continuously and the effects of subsoiling
Author(s) -
Hodgson D.R.,
Hipps N.A.,
Braim M.A.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-2743.1989.tb00782.x
Subject(s) - plough , loam , agronomy , straw , yield (engineering) , crop , drilling , mathematics , winter wheat , environmental science , soil science , soil water , biology , materials science , composite material , metallurgy
. Direct drilling was compared with mouldboard ploughing on a sandy clay loam using winter wheat as the test crop for a period of four years (1978/79 to 1981/82). The effect of short‐ and long‐term sequences of direct‐drilling on grain yield from 1981/85 was also investigated and in 1983/84 and 1984/85 the effect of soil loosening by a slant‐legged subsoiler, the‘Paraplow'. The range in annual mean yields was 7.19 to 9.32 t ha ‐1 . There were no significant differences in grain yield between direct‐drilling and ploughing except in 1979 when direct‐drilled wheat yielded 0.60 t ha ‐1 more than wheat after ploughing. The number of years the land had been direct‐drilled had no effect on grain yield. Using a slant‐legged subsoiler on direct‐drilled land significantly reduced cone resistance and increased root density, but these effects were variable across the working width of the implement. Subsoiling did not increase yield in 1983/84, and in 1984/85 it reduced yield by 0.45 t ha ‐1 . Long‐term direct drilling of winter wheat on the Tickenham soil series is unlikely to result in a loss of yield provided straw is burnt and grass weeds are controlled.