Research paper
Effect of Tillage Methods on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Under Tropical High Terrace Soil Conditions, Northern Sudan
Hassan E. Alsayim1, Abdel Rahman A. El-Mahdi2, Mohamed H. Nayel1
- Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Nile Valley University, Sudan
- Department of Seed Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Nile Valley University, Sudan
Corresponding author: عنوان البريد الإلكتروني هذا محمي من روبوتات السبام. يجب عليك تفعيل الجافاسكربت لرؤيته.
ABSTRACT
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Hassan E. Alsayim et al. / Nile Journal for Agricultural Sciences Vol. 3, NO. 1 (2018) 22 - 31
تأثير طرق الحرث في اإلنتاجية ومكوناتها في القمح تحت ظروف مناطق التروس العليا شمال السودان
حسن الحاج حمد حسن الصائم1، عبد الرحمن علي المهدي2 و محمد حسن نايل1
1 قسم الهندسة الزراعية، كلية الزراعة، جامعة وادي النيل 2 قسم تكنولوجيا البذور، كلية الزراعة، جامعة وادي النيل
أجريت هذه الدراسة خالل الموسمين الشتويين 10/2009 و11/2010 بالمزرعة التجريبية لكلية الزراعة جامعة وادي النيل، دارمالي، السودان. استخدم تصميم القطاعات العشوائية في ثالث مكررات. المعامالت تتكون من طرق الحرت بالمحراث القرصي يتبعه آلة التسوية، والمشط القرصي وبعده آلة التسوية، وبدون حرث. تم دراسة محصول القمح الصنف امام. أوضحت النتائج أن معاملة المشط القرصي أعطت اعلي نسبة لبزوغ البادرات )%82( خالل الموسم األول مقارنة بمعاملة المحراث القرصي وبدون حرث )80( و)79( علي التوالي. كذلك أعطت النتائج عدم وجود تأثير للمعامالت في طول النبات ووزن اإللف حبة خالل الموسمين. دليل الحصاد تأثر معنوياً بمعامالت الحرث، أعطى المحراث القرصي اعلي قيمة ( .)%20.4 اإلنتاجية من الحبوب تأثرت معنوياً في الموسمين بمعامالت طرق الحرث. نظم الحرث التقليدية (المحراث القرصي والمشط القرصي) حسنت من
اإلنتاجية من الحبوب مقارنة بالمعاملة دون حرث. أعطت معاملة المشط القرصي اعلي إنتاجية من الحبوب 1450( كجم/هكتار) تليها معاملة المحراث القرصي 1326( كجم /هكتار) ثم المعاملة بدون حرث 1098( كجم/هكتار.) أوضحت النتائج الخاصة بالتكلفة االقتصادية لعملية تحضير التربة لمختلف طرق الحرث إلنتاج طن واحد من الحبوب انها كانت اعلي في معاملة المشط القرصي ومعاملة المحراث القرصي مقارنة بالمعاملة بدون حرث بحوالي 1456 و2838 جنية سوداني علي التوالي. ومن ذلك
وباألخذ في االعتبار الناحية االقتصادية يمكن التوصية بزراعة القمح بدون حرث تحت ظروف التروس العليا.
Effect of Tillage on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat Under Tropical High Terrace Soil
Introduction
Poverty alleviation and food security are the most important challenges facing governments in developing countries which can be achieved if sustainable land and soil management practices are applied. The total area of Sudan is about 188.2 million hectares. Arable lands are estimated to be 84 million hectares representing 44% of the total area (Alsayim and Saeed, 2013).
The area of Sudan can be described as marginal arid land. It is estimated that agriculture contributes to 33 % of GDP and employs more than 80 % of the total population (Lee et al., 2013). Traditional farming accounts for 60-70% of the agricultural output and is largely subsistence production based on shifting cultivation and livestock rearing (Badri, 2012).
Although 50 years passed from the beginning of mechanized agriculture in Sudan, until now the technology which was usually used is of low level concerning agricultural mechanization. One of the most important agronomic practices in agricultural production is tillage. Thus applying appropriate tillage is essential to avoid soil structure destruction, maintain optimum crop yield as well as ecosystem stability (Greenland, 1981; Lal, 1985 and Barut and Celik, 2017).
Lal (1983) defined tillage as physical, chemical or biological soil manipulation to optimize conditions for germination, seedling establishment and crop growth. In arable crops growing, soil tillage is usually marked as one of the greatest energy and labour consumer. The primary tillage operations require 75% of the total energy spent before the seeding time (Pelizzi et al., 1988). A current trend in modern arable farming is the elimination of excessive cultivation by reducing tillage practices. In general, reduced tillage systems give lower operation costs and offer greater economic returns compared with conventional tillage (Smart and Bradford, 1999). Perviz et al. (2013) concluded that, conservation tillage practices such as zero-tillage and minimum tillage increase grain yield due to better nutrients and water use efficiency, less soil erosion, less weed infestation and better crop establishment.
Niamatullah et al. (2015) reported that in conventional tillage treatments almost all the growth and yield parameters of bread wheat were higher. However, the marginal return (economic benefits) was greater for reduced treatment than conventional and no tillage treatments. Therefore, it is recommended for bread wheat cultivation to replace conventional tillage with conservation tillage which can improve crop yields and reduce operational costs (Oleary and Connor, 1997; Gicheru et al., 2004; Fabrizzi et al., 2005). However, Larney and Lindwall (1994) stated that in semi-arid regions wheat yields may benefit from a reduction in tillage intensity due to the resulting water conservation. Similarly, Taa et al. (2004) observed that wheat yields from minimum and no- tillage, sometimes, were lower than those from conventional tillage. Studies on winter wheat, under minimum and zero tillage systems are few and the results are not consistent because of different experimental conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the effects of
Hassan E. Alsayim et al. / Nile Journal for Agricultural Sciences Vol. 3, NO. 1 (2018) 22 - 31
different tillage methods on yield and yield attributes of wheat variety Imam under tropical high terrace soil conditions of River Nile state (Sudan).
Materials and Methods
Field experiments were conducted during 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons at the Experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Nile Valley University, Darmali, Sudan (17°48" N; 34°00" E; altitude
346.5 meters). Soil physical and chemical characteristics for the experimental site were analyzed in Hudeiba Research Station Laboratory (Table 1).
The climate data during growing seasons was obtained from Atbara Meteorological Station as average of 30 years (1971 – 2000) as presented in Table 2.
The experiment was laid out in completely randomized block design, having three blocks with net plot size of 4 × 6 m2. Treatments include three conservation tillage treatments: disc plow (DP) followed by land leveler, disc harrow (DH) followed by land leveler and zero tillage (ZT). The depth of plowing was mostly within the range of 20-25 cm and the harrowing within the range of 8-10 cm. The wheat variety Imam was sown on 21th November, 2009 and 25th November, 2010 at a seed rate of 120 kg ha-1. Sowing was carried by driller 2 m width. Irrigation intervals were 7- 10 days with total crop water requirements of 400 m3, total number of irrigations were ten. Coast of each land preparation treatment per hour was determined.
Table 1: Physical and chemical characteristics of soil at the study site
|
Soil properties |
Value |
|
Calcium Carbonate (%) |
15 |
|
Organic matter (%) |
0.042 |
|
Nitrogen (ppm) |
140 |
|
Phosphorus (ppm) |
1.1 |
|
Exch. Sodium percent |
1.2% |
|
Electric conductivity (ds/m) |
0.85 |
|
Soil texture |
|
|
Sand (%) |
35 |
|
Clay (%) |
63 |
|
Silt (%) |
02 |
|
pH |
7.4 |
Effect of Tillage on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat Under Tropical High Terrace Soil
Table 2: Climatology data (1971 – 2000) Atbara Station Air temperature ºC Bright
Relative
Wind
Mon.
Maximum Minimum
sunshine
humidity
mean speed
duration %
at 2 m
|
|
MEAN |
HST |
MEAN |
LST |
HRS |
% |
MEAN |
(km hr-1) |
|
NOV |
34.9 |
40.7 |
20.1 |
11.7 |
10.2 |
90 |
36 |
6.9 |
|
DEC |
31.1 |
38.5 |
16.0 |
6.5 |
9.7 |
88 |
40 |
6.9 |
|
Jan |
29.8 |
39.1 |
14.2 |
6.3 |
9.9 |
88 |
36 |
8.0 |
|
Feb |
31.8 |
41.4 |
15.1 |
5.5 |
10.3 |
90 |
31 |
8.0 |
|
Mar |
35.7 |
45.7 |
18.4 |
10.8 |
10.1 |
84 |
24 |
8.0 |
|
Year |
37.7 |
48.0 |
22.3 |
5.5 |
9.6 |
79 |
31 |
- |
Source: Sudan Meteorological Authority, Atbara Station
For the two experiments urea (46% N) was applied in split dose as a source of nitrogen, half-dose applied at sowing and the rest four weeks after sowing. Triple super phosphate (48% P2O5) was applied as a source of phosphorous before sowing. The crop was kept clean by hand weeding two and three weeks after sowing, respectively.
For the crop germination (%), two rows were randomly selected within each plot. Hence the average number of plants per plot was calculated as follows:
??
Where:
?% =
??
× 100
Pc = plants count per plot, Pp = presumed plant count/plot, and G = germination
Plant height was measured at two weeks intervals; one plant was randomly selected within two rows in each plot.
Plants were harvested as they dried up. Shoots were removed manually by cutting at the soil surface. Plants were harvested, bound and air dried before threshing and measuring seed yield per unit area.
Ten plants samples randomly selected from the harvested area. Parameters assessed include; plant height (from the ground surface to tip of growing point) and 1000-kernel weight (g). Harvest index was calculated as the average grain yield per plot divided by the average dry biomass per plot. Seed yield per unit area was obtained from the three center rows of each plot. To avoid border effect, 0.5 m of every side in each plot was not considered when harvesting, then grain yield was determined in kg ha-1.
Hassan E. Alsayim et al. / Nile Journal for Agricultural Sciences Vol. 3, NO. 1 (2018) 22 - 31
The data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance to test the significance of treatment effects using the SPSS statistical program.
Results and Discussion Seedling emergence (%)
Effect of different tillage methods on seedling emergence percentage two weeks after irrigation for both seasons was presented in Fig 1. The results showed that, the highest seedling emergence (82%) was recorded by disc harrow (DH) treatment at the first season compared to 80 and 79% for disc plow (DP) and zero tillage (ZT) treatments, respectively. However, for the second season, the results showed lower seedling emergence (73%) for the DH treatment and gave comparable ratio of 77 % for DP and ZT. Acceptable percentage ratio for seedling emergence under ZT treatment for the second season may be caused by organic matter which may improve soil physical and chemical characteristics particularly soil water holding capacity. These results were supported by Sayre and Ramos (1997) who concluded that zero-tillage can provide enough water for germination of wheat seeds.
Fig.1: Effect of tillage methods on seedling emergence percentage two weeks after irrigation for the two seasons 2009/2010 and 2010/2011
Plant height (cm)
Plant height was not significantly different among the treatments during both seasons. The order of plant height from the lowest to the highest was ZT, DH, and DP (Table 3). Similar results were obtained by DeVita et al. (2007).
The 1000- kernels weight (g)
The 1000 kernels weight recorded under different tillage treatments over the two seasons as shown in Table 3. The results indicated that, the 1000- kernels weight was not affected by tillage treatments during both seasons. The maximum 1000-kernel weight (42.1g) was recorded under
Effect of Tillage on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat Under Tropical High Terrace Soil
conventional tillage, and it decreased under reduced tillage (40.7g) and no tillage (38.3g). These results agreed with results obtained by Perviz et al. (2013).
Harvest index (%)
Harvest index was significantly affected by tillage methods (Table 3). The results showed that, the highest harvest index (20.4%) was recorded by DP, which could be due maximum translocation of assimilates towards grain formation. On the other hand, DH and ZT attained lower harvest index;
- and 18.2%, respectively. These results were similar to the findings of DeVita et al. (2007).
Grain yield (kg ha-1)
Grain yields under different tillage treatments over two growing seasons were recorded and the results are shown in (Table 3). Conventional tillage systems (DP and DH) significantly improved grain yield as compared to conservation tillage system (ZT). The maximum grain yield was recorded by DH conventional tillage system (1450 kg ha-1) followed by DP system (1326 kg ha-1) and (1098 kg ha-1) for the ZT system. However, in the ZT compared to DP and DH systems, the grain yield showed reduction by 50 and 776 kg ha-1 for DP and DH, respectively. This different yield may be attributed to soil properties improvements as a result of increases in soil fertility. It may be due to greater inorganic N and N uptake. These results agreed with those obtained by Zamir et al. (2010) and Niamatullah et al. (2015). They found that conventional tillage produced significantly higher grain yields compared to others conservation tillage systems.
Table 3: Effect of tillage method on wheat yield and yield components over two seasons (2009/2010 and 2010/2011).
|
Tillage |
Plant height |
1000 KW |
Harvest index |
Grain yield |
|
Methods |
(cm) |
(g) |
(%) |
kg ha-1 |
|
Disc plow |
96.2 a |
40.9 a |
20.4a |
1326ab |
|
Disc harrow |
67.3 a |
42.1 a |
18.6 b |
1450a |
|
Zero tillage |
71.1 a |
38.3 a |
18.2b |
1098b |
Means within the same column having the same letter are not significantly different at P = 0.05
Economic cost
The economic cost of different tillage methods was presented in Table 4. The results showed that, the total conservation tillage systems cost (seed drill and ditcher) under zero tillage recorded low values (270 SDG ha-1) compared with disk plow, land leveling, seed drill and ditcher (920 SDG ha-1) and disk harrow, land leveling, seed drill and ditcher (730 SDG ha-1). Likewise, the results indicated that the economic cost of soil preparations to produce one ton of grain yield was higher for DH and DP than ZT by 1456 - 2838 SDG for DH and DP, respectively.
Hassan E. Alsayim et al. / Nile Journal for Agricultural Sciences Vol. 3, NO. 1 (2018) 22 - 31
Table 4: Economic cost (SDG) of different tillage methods
|
|||||||||||||
Tillage Methods
Tillage cost SDG
Total cost of ton (grain yield)
Conclusion
It can be concluded that, grain yield was affected by different tillage methods. Therefore, zero tillage with economic concern can be recommended for wheat cultivation under tropical high terrace soil conditions (Northern Sudan).
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to express their gratitudes to the research sponsor, Commission of Scientific Research and Innovation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Sudan.
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Effect of Tillage on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat Under Tropical High Terrace Soil
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