Weed infestation of winter wheat as affected by soil tillage and fertilization practice

Abstract

Purpose. To find out the effect of soil tillage and fertilization practice in short grain-hoed crop rotation on the degree of weed infestation of winter wheat sowings.Methods. Field, laboratory.Results. The research was carried out within the long-term stationary experiment of the Veselyi Podil Research and Breeding Station. The soil for the experiment was typical weakly saline chernozem. Combined tillage contributed to an increase in weed infestation: in the treatment without fertilization, the number of weeds per 1 m2 was 50.3; in the treatment with ploughing, this number was 46.8. Organic and mineral fertilization practice resulted in 21.9 weeds per 1 mc in the treatment with combined tillage and 16.4 weeds per 1 m2 in the treatment with ploughing. With the incorporation of harvest residues, an increase in the number of weeds in the treatment with ploughing made up 23.7, while in the treatment with combined soil tillage it was 20.8.Conclusions. Ploughing contributed to the emergence of fewer weeds compared to combined tillage, both with organic and mineral fertilization and without fertilization, with the increase of 3.7 and 5.5 weeds per 1 m2, respectively. Incorporation of harvest residues against the background of mineral fertilization with ploughing increased the number of weeds per 1 m2 by 2.9 compared to combined soil tillage. The application of fertilizers significantly reduced weed infestation of winter wheat sowings regardless of the type of soil tillage.