Effect of Minimum and zero tillage systems on some soil physical properties and Abu70 fodder production

Abstract

The study was conducted at the experimental farm of the department of crop production at the college of agricultural studies of the Sudan university of sciences and technology. Three different methods of land preparation have been tested (conventional tillage , minimum tillage and zero tillage ) . Conventional tillage represented by a disc plough followed by disc harrow and soil leveler(DPDH). Minimum tillage represented by rotary plough followed by disc harrow and soil leveler (RPDH) and zero tillage is practiced without implement .The main purpose of the study was to determine the most appropriate method of land preparation for Abu70 fodder crop . Randomized completed block design have been used to conduct the experiment. The effect of different tillage methods on soil moisture content , bulk density and infiltration rate has been determined also, the generated data was subjected to statistical analysis. The effect of previously mentioned tillage groups upon some plant parameters such as the germination , length of plants, number of leaves per plant , leaf area index and average yield in tons per hectare have been tested also. According to the obtained results it was not clear which of the tested tillage methods was the most appropriate for forage production. Evaluation of the different tillage methods according to those results was rather difficult and we were obliged to test for the economical analysis to identify which method is the most suitable for land preparation . III According to the economical analysis the least land preparation cost was zero tillage which is 2SDG. The second lower cost obtained with conventional tillage is 43.138SDG, where as the highest cost was .obtained with minimum tillage 44.588SDG IV