Interacting effects of tillage method, nitrogen fertiliser and secondary drainage on winter wheat production on a calcareous clay soil

Abstract

AbstractThe response of winter wheat to nitrogen fertiliser within the range 0–200 kg ha−1 in 40 kg increments applied either in April or in May in two consecutive seasons (1976–77 and 1977–78) was tested in a field experiment on a calcareous clay soil that was either direct‐drilled, shallow tine cultivated (5–8 cm), or mouldboard ploughed (23 cm). These cultivation methods had been used on the same plots in the four preceding seasons (1973 to 1976) in a comparison of cultivation systems. A comparison was also made with direct‐drilling on land that had been deep tine cultivated (17 cm) during the 1973–76 experiment. In the second season (1977–78) effects were examined of newly drawn mole drains, on land that had been direct‐drilled or ploughed.In both seasons the effect of cultivation method on grain yield was small when nitrogen fertiliser was applied at 80–120 kg N ha−1. Nitrogen top dressings in April gave heavier yields than the equivalent dressings in May, partly because of dry weather after the May applications in both years. There was no interaction between method of cultivation and amount of nitrogen applied in 1976–77, but a significant interaction was detected in 1977–78 which was probably associated with less nitrogen being available in the uncultivated soil during the winter and spring. The results show that the potential yield of direct‐drilled crops may have been underestimated in some earlier comparisons of different methods of cultivation where small uniform top dressings of nitrogen were applied to each cultivation treatment. Mole drainage increased yield especially at low rates of nitrogen and after direct drilling, These results indicate that direct‐drilled and ploughed land may differ in their drainage requirements.