The influence of tillage systems on soil physical properties for winter wheat crop (Triticum aestivum L.) at Ezăreni Research Station

Abstract

Tillage systems have influence on soil physical properties and have different consequences for plant growth and development. In particular, tillage systems affect yields. The experiment was conducted at the Didactic Station of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Iasi – Ezareni Farm on a cambic mesocalcaric regraded chernozem between 2016 and 2017 for winter wheat crop. We investigated two variants of soil tillage systems: no-till and conventional tillage regarding soil moisture and bulk density, during vegetation and harvest. In order to determine the main physical properties such as bulk density, soil samples were collected from 10 to 10 cm down to 40 cm depth: 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-30 cm and 30-40 cm. For soil moisture the samples were collected from 6 layers as follows 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-30 cm, 30-50 cm, 50-70 cm, 70-90 cm. The bulk density values revealed that it increased in both tillage systems and depths. The mean bulk density showed that it registered the lowest values in no-till variant during vegetation (1.36 g/cm3 ) while the highest value was registered in conventional tillage at harvest (1.55 g/cm3 ). Soil moisture showed differences along depth, growth stages and tillage systems, with higher values for the no-till variant in all periods except of the harvest, where the value was higher in conventional system compared on no-till (20.36% and 18.89% respectively).