Abstract
Khorasan wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. turanicum (Jakubz.)) is an ancient tetraploid spring wheat variety originating from northeast parts of Central Asia. This variety can serve as a full-fledged alternative to modern wheat but has a lower yield than modern varieties. It is commonly known that wheat growth is influenced by soil tillage technology (among other things). However, it is not known how soil tillage technology affects ancient varieties. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different soil tillage technologies on the growth of the ancient Khorasan wheat variety in comparison to the modern Kabot spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) variety. The trial was arranged in six small plots, one half of which was sown by the Khorasan wheat variety and the other half of which was sown by the Kabot wheat variety. Three soil tillage methods were used for each cultivar: conventional tillage (CT) (20–25 cm), minimum tillage (MTC) with a coulter cultivator (15 cm), and minimization tillage (MTD) with a disc cultivator (12 cm). The soil surface of all of the variants were leveled after tillage (harrows & levelling bars). An unmanned aerial vehicle with multispectral and thermal cameras was used to monitor growth during the vegetation season. The flight missions were supplemented by measurements using the GreenSeeker hand-held sensor and plant and soil analysis. The results showed that the Khorasan ancient wheat was better suited the conditions of conventional tillage, with low values of bulk density and highvalues of total soil porosity, which generally increased the nutritional value of the yield in this experimental plot. At the same time, it was found that this ancient wheat does not deplete the soil. The results also showed that the trend of developmental growing curves derived from different sensors was very similar regardless of measurement method. The sensors used in this study can be good indicators of micronutrient content in the plant as well as in the grains. A low-cost RGB camera can provide relevant results, especially in cases where equipment that is more accurate is not available.
Highlights
Tillage is an important process that affects soil properties such as the temperature, moisture content, bulk density, or stability of soil aggregates [1]
According to Wijngaard and Arendt [56], Khorasan wheat is classified as a healthy food due to its higher content of some nutrients, which agrees with this study
The growth parameters of the selected wheat varieties cultivated under different tillage methods during the entire vegetation season were evaluated by spectral indices (Figure 3)
Summary
Tillage is an important process that affects soil properties such as the temperature, moisture content, bulk density, or stability of soil aggregates [1]. Conventional tillage with moldboard ploughing (25–28 cm depth) followed by spring tine harrowing compared to reduced tillage (two harrowings with spring tine harrows up to 4–6 cm depth and sowing) has a worsening effect on the soil. This means reduced organic matter, poorer soil structure, reduced aggregate content, and increased bulk density [5]. Bilalis et al [6] evaluated a field experiment comparing the influence of three different tillage methods (conventional, minimization, and no-till) on the quality, yield, and growth of four varieties of wheat (‘Siette’, ‘Panifor’, ‘Myrto’, and ‘Estero’). The influence of different tillage on winter wheat yield at three locations in the Czech Republic during 6 seasons showed that the reduced tillage system combined with a high input level achieved higher yields for all wheat varieties than conventional tillage [10]
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