Abstract
The search for higher profitability in wheat crop with cost reduction technologies that may promote sustainability is an important matter in Brazilian agriculture. This study evaluated the profitability of no-tilled wheat, reducing nitrogen topdressing doses with the cultivation of green manure before the wheat crop. The experiment was carried out in Selvíria (MS), Brazil, in 2009/10. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with 36 treatments in splitplots and four replicates. The plots were formed by six types of green manure: Cajanus cajan L. BRS Mandarin, Crotalaria juncea L., Pennisetum americanum L. BRS 1501, fallow area and mixed cropping of Pennisetum americanum L. + Cajanus cajan L. and Pennisetum americanum L. + crotalaria which provided straw for no-tilled wheat in the winter, following the rice crop in the summer. The subplots were formed by six levels of topdressing nitrogen (0, 25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 kg N ha-1) using urea as a nitrogen source. The wheat grown after green manure in the previous winter crop, with no nitrogen topdressing and a rate of 25 kg ha-1 N, had more frequently production costs above the gross income. Wheat production cost after the mixed cropping Pennisetum americanum L. + Cajanus cajan L. and Pennisetum americanum L. + Crotalaria juncea L. from the previous winter crop, combined with nitrogen rates of 50 and 75 kg N ha-1, provided better profitability compared with the other green manures evaluated.
Highlights
World production of wheat in 2009/10 was of 680.3 million tons
The plots were formed by six types of green manure: pigeon pea BRS Mandarin, Crotalaria juncea, millet BRS 1501, fallow area and millet + pigeon pea intercropping and millet + crotalaria intercropping, which provided the straw for no-tilling wheat
The wheat production cost in the fallowing area was of BRL$1,129.85 ha-1, and the remaining production costs referred to green manure sowing operation (USD$ 96.00 ha-1), straw managing with a Triton (BRL$ 52.25 ha-1) and seed acquisition expenses: pigeon pea seeds BRS Mandarin (BRL$ 45.60 ha-1), millet BRS 1501 ($ 22.50 ha-1), Crotalaria juncea (R $ 97.50 ha-1) and the mixed cropping millet + pigeonpea (USD$ 11.25 ha-1 + BRL$ 22.80 ha-1) and millet + crotalaria (USD$ 11.25 ha-1 + BRL$ 48 75 h-1)
Summary
World production of wheat in 2009/10 was of 680.3 million tons. A reduction of 5.5% is expected for the current crop with a total production of 643.0 million tons. The increased production and productivity promoted by favorable climatic factors and the use of viable technologies is still not enough to the meet the domestic consumption, which reached approximately 10 million tons in the last 10 years. The search for alternatives to benefit the producer with cost-optimizing technologies such as new cultivars with high productivity and superior industrial quality; nutrient management, especially nitrogen and the expansion of this crop to other regions of Brazil, could meet the Brazilian consumption deficit. Trindade et al (2006) evaluated an irrigated wheat crop in succession to soybean in the State of Goiás, in the 2003 harvest and found that the nitrogen rate of 73kg ha was economically viable. Given the difficulties found by farmers with the low wheat prices, the crop response to nitrogen and the possibility of nitrogen supply through biological fixation by legume species, this work assessed the profitability of no-tillage wheat crop in relation to nitrogen rates in succession to green manures in the Cerrado
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