The effect of mini-till and no-till technologies on productivity and quality of malting barley grain

Abstract

The purpose of the current work was to study the effect of mini-till, no-till and traditional agricultural technologies on productivity and quality of malting barley grain. Field trials were carried out in three crop rotation sequences ‘winter rye – spring wheat – barley’ on medium loamy gray forest soil of Chuvashia with 2.42 % of humus; 188 mg/kg of mobile phosphorus; 160 mg/kg of exchangeable potassium and 6.2 of exchangeable acidity. During the vegetation period of 2020, the hydrothermal coefficient was 1.04; in 2021 it was 0.60; and in 2022 it was 1.05. The object of the study was an early-maturing variety ‘Elf’. Traditional agricultural technology was based on autumn disk plowing and autumn plowing, early spring harrowing, seedbed cultivation and sowing with subsequent rolling. Mini-till cultivation included autumn disk plowing, spring cultivation and sowing with the multifunctional complex “Cultibar 9000”. No-till cultivation consisted of autumn treatment with the non-selective herbicide “Sprut Extra" and “direct” spring sowing “Cultibar 9000”. The seeding rate was 200 kg/ha. The dose of mineral fertilizers was N30P20К20. The crops were protected from weeds, diseases, and pests. On average, the largest (2.49 t/ha) productivity of malting barley grain was obtained using mini-till technology, and the smallest (2.34 t/ha) when using no-till. The mean productivity with traditional agricultural technology was lower than the maximum by 0.03 t/ha, but larger than the minimum by 0.12 t/ha. The analysis of the qualitative characteristics has shown a reliable effect of agricultural technologies on the brewing properties of barley grain. Thus, traditional technology contributed to obtaining grain of the 1st class, mini-till technology contributed to obtaining grain of the 2nd class, and no-till technology contributed to obtaining grain of the 3rd class of the interstate standard.