Abstract:
An experiment was conducted in the
Demonstration farm of the faculty of Agricultural
Studies at Sudan University of Science and Technology
for two consecutive seasons (2002/2003 and
2003/2004) to determine the effect of five tillage
systems on soil physical and mechanical characteristics
and wheat production. These five systems are as follow:
1. Conventional tillage (Disking, Offset disk harrowing
and leveling).
2. Tilling with Offset disk harrow.
3. Tilling with Rorovator.
4. Tilling with Field cultivator.
5. Tilling and sowing with a combined machine
(Rotoplanter).
The experiment was executed using the
Randomized Complete Block Design where the area
was divided into four replications and twenty plots of
(10×5) m2 each. Sowing was then done manually for all
treatments except for Roroplanter whereas it done
mechanically after doing the necessary adjustment.
Application of irrigation water, fertilizers,
pesticides and weeding was done equally and
simultaneously for all treatments and the results
obtained were as follow:
No significant difference was shown regarding the
parameters of infiltration rate, bulk density, moisture
content and soil resistance to penetration; whereas a
significant difference (p<0.05) was revealed in weed
population as the highest was in minimum tillage with
field cultivator of (153.00 and 151.75) and the lowest
was in both conventional tillage and minimum tillage
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with rotovator of (96.00 and 92.50) and (83.75 and
93.50) in the first and second season respectively. The
results also showed a significant difference in root
length and weight of dry roots (p<0.05) whereas the
highest value in root length was recorded by both
minimum tillage with offset disk harrow and rotovator
of (13.38 and 13.75 cm) and (12.48 and 13.50 cm),
since the lowest was in minimum tillage with field
cultivator of (11.08 and 11.93 cm) in the first and
second season respectively. And in weight of dry roots
as the highest was also in both minimum tillage with
offset disk harrow and rotovator of (1.73 and 1.95 gm)
and (2.03 and 1.75 gm), whereas the lowest was in
minimum tillage with field cultivator of (1.40 and 1.13
gm) in the first and second season respectively.
The highest production (ton/ha) in the first season
was achieved by both minimum tillage withrotovator
and offset disk harrow of (3.50 and 3.48 ton/ha)
whereas the highest in the second season was given by
both minimum tillage with rotovator and conventional
tillage of (3.98 and 3.93 ton/ha) respectively. Direct
seeding represented by field cultivator and manual sowing had
given relatively good results
in cracking heavy clay soils
compared to other treatments although no herbicides was used.
