Weed Flora and Soil Seed Bank Composition as Affected by Tillage System in Three-Year Crop Rotation

Beata Feledyn-Szewczyk,Elżbieta Harasim,Janusz Smagacz,Andrzej Woźniak,Cezary A Kwiatkowski

doi:10.3390/agriculture10050186

Beata Feledyn-Szewczyk, Elżbieta Harasim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10050186

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Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest around agricultural science and practice in conservation tillage systems that are compatible with sustainable agriculture. The aim of this study was to assess the qualitative and quantitative changes in weed flora and soil seed bank under reduced tillage and no-till (direct sowing) in comparison with traditional ploughing. In the crop rotation: pea/rape—winter wheat—winter wheat the number and dry weight of weeds increased with the simplification of tillage. The seed bank was the largest under direct sowing and about three times smaller in traditional ploughing. Under direct sowing, most weed seeds were accumulated in the top soil layer 0–5 cm, while in the ploughing system most weed seeds occurred in deeper layers: 5–10 and 10–20 cm. In the reduced and no-till systems, a greater percentage of perennial and invasive species, such as Conyza canadensis L., was observed. The results show that it is possible to maintain weed infestation in the no-till system at a level that does not significantly affect winter wheat yield and does not pose a threat of perennial and invasive weeds when effective herbicide protection is applied.

Highlights

Weed infestation in a field consists of the above-ground weed community and the seed stock in and on the soil, called the soil seed bank [1]
9.0 g m−2, while in the reduced tillage system it was higher by 23% and in the no-till system by 28%
The number and weight of weeds observed in all the cultivation systems was low due to intensive herbicide protection, including glyphosate (Table 3), which was very effective in weed control in all compared tillage systems

Summary

Introduction

Weed infestation in a field consists of the above-ground weed community and the seed stock in and on the soil, called the soil seed bank [1]. One of the most important agrotechnical factors influencing the weed flora of arable fields is the tillage method [5,6]. Sustainable agriculture promotes a reduction in the intensity of soil tillage treatments and seeks to replace plough cultivation with conservation tillage that does not turn the soil, or even with direct sowing. These treatments are reflected in scientific research results on the impact of tillage simplifications on the diversity of the segetal flora and on the soil seed bank are inconclusive [9,10,11,12,13]

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