Growth and yield of winter wheat in the first 3 years of a monoculture under varying N fertilization in NW Germany

Abstract

Different preceding crops interact with almost all husbandry and have a major effect on crop yields. In order to quantify the yield response of winter wheat, a field trial with different preceding crop combinations (oilseed rape (OSR)-OSR-OSR-wheat-wheatwheat), two sowing dates (mid/end of September, mid/end of October) and 16 mineral nitrogen (N) treatments (80-320 kg N ha −1 ) during 1993/1994-1998/1999, was carried out at Hohenschulen Experimental Station near Kiel in NW Germany. Single plant biomass, tiller numbers m −2 , biomass m −2 , grain yield and yield components at harvest were investigated. During the growing season, the incidence of root rot (Gaeumannomyces graminis) was observed. Additionally, a bioassay with Lemna minor was used to identify the presence of allelochemicals in the soil after different preceding crops.Averaged over all years and all other treatments, wheat following OSR achieved nearly 9.5 t ha −1 , whereas the second wheat crop following wheat yielded about 0.9 t ha −1 and the third wheat crop following 2 years of wheat about 1.9 t ha −1 less compared with wheat after OSR. A delay of the sowing date only marginally decreased grain yield by 0.2 t ha −1 . Nitrogen fertilization increased grain yield after all preceding crop combinations, but at different levels. Wheat grown after OSR reached its maximum yield of 9.7 t ha −1 with 210 kg N ha −1 . The third wheat crop required a N amount of 270 kg N ha −1 to achieve its yield maximum of 8.0 t ha −1 . Yield losses were mainly caused by a lower ear density and a reduced thousand grain weight. About 4 weeks after plant establishment, single wheat plants following OSR accumulated more biomass compared to plants grown after wheat. Plants from the third wheat crop were smallest. This range of the preceding crop combinations was similar at all sampling dates throughout the growing season.Root rot occurred only at a low level and was excluded to cause the yield losses. The Lemna bioassay suggested the presence of allelochemicals, which might have been one reason for the poor single plant development in autumn.An increased N fertilization compensated for the lower number of ears m −2 and partly reduced the yield losses due to the unfavorable preceding crop combination. However, it was not possible to completely compensate for the detrimental influences of an unfavorable preceding crop on the grain yield of the subsequent wheat crop.

Nitrogen fertilizer influence on winter wheat yield and yield components depending on soil tillage and forecrop

“…Similar results were obtained by Sieling et al (2005), who found that nitrogen fertilization increased the grain yield after all forecrops.…”

“…The average grain yield was higher (+0.49 t ha -1 ) in variant where the forecrop was oilseed rape (4.83 -9.98 t ha -1 ), despite the fact that in the control variant (N0) winter wheat grain yields were similar after both forecrops ( were obtained in Germany, where it was found that a higher wheat yield was obtained growing wheat after oilseed rape if compared with variant when wheat was grown after wheat (Sieling et al, 2005). Such a result could be confirmed also by the results of other studies, where oilseed crop in cereal-based cropping systems has shown to have a positive agronomic and economic impacts (Maadi et al, 2012).…”

“…Study in Southern Italy showed that the continuous wheat cropping provided the lowest yield if compared with crop rotation (Montemurro & Maiorana, 2014). Wheat growing in monoculture in three-year period reduced the yield by 20% (Sieling et al, 2005).…”

Effects of Crop Residue and Nitrogen Rates on Yield and Yield Components of Two Dryland Wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) Cultivars

“…López-Bellido et al (2000) indicated that the inverse relation between kernel weight and N rate is probably due to increase in number of grains per spike and decline in 1000-grain weight prompted by increased N fertilizer rates. Sieling et al (2005) showed that an increased N fertilization compensated for the lower number of ears m -2 and partly reduced the yield losses due to the unfavorable preceding crop combination.…”

The influence of mineral fertilisers, farmyard manure, liming and sowing rate on winter wheat grain yields

“…Results from other Czech long-term experiments by Kunzová and Hejcman (2009) and Hejcman and Kunzová (2010) confirmed that grain yields on less productive soils were strongly dependent on N application rates. In addition, Sieling et al (2005) and Hejcman and Kunzová (2010) recorded a statistically significant influence of the preceding crop on grain yield, and Rahimizadeh et al (2010) reported that the preceding crop affects wheat N uptake and use efficiency. This research supports our finding that the preceding crops have a substantial effect on the N response curve (Figure 4).…”