Soil quality and fertility are associated with its productivity, and this in turn is connected to the soil biological activity. To study these effects, well designed long-term field experiments that provide comprehensive data sets are the most applicable. Four treatments (tillage methods) were set up: (1) conventional tillage (CT); (2) no tillage (NT); (3) minimum tillage + straw (MTS), and (4) no tillage + mulch (NTM). Our objective was to assess the relationships between soil microbial characteristics and winter wheat yields under these different techniques of conservation tillage within a field experiment, originally established in 1995. The differences in average grain yields over time period [2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009] between the variants were not statistically significant. Organic carbon in the topsoil was higher in plots with conservation tillage (NT, MTS, and NTM), than in the conventional tillage plots. There was a statistically significant correlation (P ≤ 0.01) between the grain yields and organic C content in topsoil.
The paper identifies and compares the energy balance of winter wheat, spring barley and white mustard – all grown in crop rotation under different tillage conditions. The field trial included the conventional tillage (CT) method, minimum tillage (MT) and a system with no tillage (NT). The energy inputs included both the direct and indirect energy component. Energy outputs are evaluated as gross calorific value (gross heating value of phytomass dry matter) of the primary product and the total harvested production. The energy effectiveness (energy output: energy input) was selected for evaluation. The greatest energy effectiveness for the primary product was established as 6.35 for barley, 6.04 for wheat and 3.68 for mustard; in the case of total production, it was 9.82 for barley, 10.08 for wheat and 9.72 for mustard. When comparing the different tillage conditions, the greatest energy effectiveness was calculated for the evaluated crops under the MT operation and represented the primary product of wheat at 6.49, barley at 6.69 and mustard at 3.92. The smallest energy effectiveness for the primary product was found in wheat 5.77 and barley 6.10 under the CT option; it was 3.55 for mustard under the option of NT. Throughout the entire cropping pattern, the greatest energy effectiveness was established under the minimum tillage option – 5.70 for the primary product and 10.47 for the total production. On the other hand, the smallest values were calculated under CT – 5.22 for the primary product and 9.71 for total production.
The objective of this study was the model comparison and economic evaluation of different methods of soil tillage and crop stand establishments used. Based on yield results (winter wheat, spring barley, and white mustard cultivated in three-crop rotation) from field experiments with conventional, conservation with minimum tillage, and no-tillage methods conducted at the site Prague-Ruzyně, model economic balances were evaluated. Prices of the main products were determined based on the yield results from the period 2010-2013 and the current market prices. In the individual tillage systems, the total costs of production of evaluated crops were counted up and profitability was calculated as a ratio of profit to total costs. The highest total costs of crop cultivation were identified in cereals under conventional soil tillage, on the contrary, the lowest in cereals cultivated under conservation tillage technology. As for the growing technologies, the highest profitability was found in winter wheat, as for the tillage methods, it was in the conservation variant with minimum tillage. The economic evaluation for individual crops was based on standards of growing technologies and particular work operations.
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