Feasibility of a wider row spacing and recommended nitrogen in no‐till wheat

Abstract

The optimal row spacing aims to maximize profitability by balancing the reduction in production costs from a wider row spacing against a potential decline in yield and increased weed pressure. A wider row spacing should increase area seeded per day, improve residue flow around seeder openers and the success of seeding between stubble rows. This study investigated the feasibility of a wider row spacing by studying the effects of row spacing (25, 30, 35, 40 cm) and N fertilizer rates (20, 40, 80, 120, 160 kg N ha −1) on development, yield, and quality of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The study was a two factorial in randomized complete block design. The experiment was conducted at Indian Head, SK, from 2013 to 2016. Row spacing affected plant, head, and seed density; however, the effects were generally inconsistent. One exception was biomass, which decreased as the row spacing increased in 3 of the 4 yr. Grain yield declined in 1 of the 4 yr, with the largest portion of the decrease occurring as the row spacing increased from 30 to 40 cm. As expected, increasing N rates produced greater grain yield, biomass, and grain protein. In conclusion, this study found that in most years the row spacing can be widened past 30 cm without a negative impact on grain yield in a no-till cropping system. However, to determine the probability of a grain yield decrease as row spacing is increased, a larger study over a wider geographic region is needed. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Self‐regenerating black medic cover crop provides agronomic benefits at low nitrogen

“…For each crop, the highest yields occurred at 100% N rate with the exception of flax, which had the highest yield, 1.26 t ha −1 , at 60% N followed by a slight numerical decrease in yield, 1.25 t ha −1 , at 100% (Figure 2). The highest yields occurring at 100% recommended N coincides with past studies (May et al., 2010; May, Aldous, & Lafond, 2020). Yield increased from 20 to 100% N regardless of the presence of medic; however, there was a larger difference in yield between N rates in the nonmedic treated plots than the medic plots, 0.46 t ha −1 (Figure 3).…”

“…Oat had a tiller density of 313 m −2 , while wheat had a tiller density of with 387 m −2 . Previous research also found that increasing the N rate increased tiller density in oat and wheat (May, Aldous, & Lafond, 2020; May, Brandt, & Hutt‐Taylor, 2020). The year × medic × crop interaction accounted for 41% of the variance of the random effects (Table 2).…”

Row spacing, seeding depth, seeding rate, and trinexapac‐ethyl effects on oat yield and lodging

“…In the combined analysis, narrower rows increased total crop biomass at maturity (+2.1 Mg ha −1 ) with interactions being only of magnitude (Table 2). The consistent effect of narrower row spacing on total crop biomass is similar to other reports (Chen et al., 2008; Marshall et al., 1987; May et al., 2020).…”

Response of annual canarygrass (Phalaris canariensis L.) to nitrogen fertilizer and fungicide applications

“…This difference may be due to higher panicle density obtained by the previous study at a low N rate 465 panicles m -2 compared to the 407 panicles m -2 at a low N rate in this study so less N was required in the previous study to maximize panicle density. The increase in panicle or head density as the N rate increased has been observed in other small grains under similar environmental conditions including oat, wheat and barley (May et al 2020a(May et al , 2020bO'Donovan et al 2015).…”