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The use of instrumental methods of analysis in the assessment of indices that record changes in symmetry in the structure of grains to evaluate the quality of durum and soft wheat grain is currently considered a search tool that will allow us to obtain previously unavailable data by finding correlations associated with differences in the shape and ratio of starch granules in conditionally symmetrical and asymmetrical wheat fruits (kernels) formed in different field conditions and with different genotypes. Indicators that had previously shown their effectiveness were used to analyze the obviously complex unique material obtained as a result of growing under critically unique sowing conditions in 2022, which affected the stability of grain development and filling. For the evaluation, a typical agronomic comparative experiment was chosen, which was used to evaluate the soil tillage practices (fallow, non-moldboard loosening, and plowing) and sowing dates (early and after excessive rainfalls), which made it possible to analyze a wider range of factors influencing the studied indices. The soil tillage methods were found to affect the uniformity of kernel fullness and their symmetry, and the sowing dates did not lead to significant differences. This study presents detailed changes in the shape of the middle cut of a wheat kernel, associated with assessing the efficiency of kernel filling and the symmetrical distribution of storage substances under the influence of external and internal physical factors that affect the formation of the wheat kernel. The data obtained may be of interest to breeders and developers of predictive phenotyping programs for cereal grain and seeds of other crops, as well as plant physiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization of crop production inputs to reduce energy input and greenhouse gases emissions with maximizing economic productivity is needed to develop sustainable agriculture under groundwater-based irrigation conditions. This paper examined the effects of irrigated wheat tillage practices on energy indices, greenhouse gases emissions, and economic indices. Research treatments were conventional tillage and no-tillage (environment-friendly) systems in semi-arid environments. This study was conducted in wheat farms under groundwater-based irrigation, and data were monitored and collected for two years between 2012–2013 and 2013–2014. The results indicated that no-tillage practice had lower energy input (13%, 21.12 vs. 24.34 GJ ha−1), energy output (18%, 83.01 vs. 101.11 GJ ha−1), and energy use efficiency (7%), but higher energy productivity (19%) and indirect energy (9%) than conventional tillage practice. Moreover, no-tillage practice produced lower emissions of CO2 (24%, 830.28 vs. 1096.40 kg ha−1) and total global warming potential (GWP) (14%, 1830.03 vs. 2120.43 kg CO2-equivalents ha−1) than conventional tillage practice. In comparison, 53.9% of GWP originated from N2O and 45.4% from CO2. Inputs of electricity, diesel fuel, machinery, and nitrogen fertilizer had 95% contributions in emission from farms. Economically, no-tillage practice had higher productivity (3%, 7.06 vs. 6.86 kg US$−1) but lower net return (18%, 1076.52 vs. 1313.48 US$ ha−1) and benefit to cost ratio (14%, 3.10 vs. 3.61) than conventional tillage practice. However, producing wheat in this agroecosystem is profitable and beneficial under both tillage systems. It was concluded that the promising technique of the no-tillage under groundwater-based irrigation conditions significantly facilitated a cleaner production of wheat through managing energy with controlling greenhouse gases emissions in a semi-arid environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the water-use efficiency (WUE) of crops is the most effective way to increase yields in semi-arid regions. Field research was carried out based on a long-term experiment initiated in 2001, aimed to explore the mechanisms of different tillage practices effects on grain yield and WUE of spring wheat. Tillage practices in the research including conventional tillage (CT), no tillage with no straw mulching (NT), conventional tillage with straw incorporation (TS), and no tillage with straw mulching (NTS). The effects of tillage practices on soil's physical and chemical properties, dry matter accumulation, grain yield, dynamics of stress-related substances, and WUE were observed. Soil and plant samples in this research were collected in 2020 (wet year), 2021 (dry year), and 2022 (dry year). The results indicated that NTS improved the soil's physical and chemical properties. The NTS treatment had the lowest soil bulk and pH and the highest total N, NO3--N, and available P. Throughout the whole growth stage, soil water content in the NTS and TS treatments were significantly higher than that of CT by 8.77–20.40% and 2.19–18.83, respectively. Averaged catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and soluble protein across the three years with NTS and TS were significantly increased by 1.26–25.52% compared to CT. Meanwhile, the NTS treatment had the lowest malondialdehyde (MDA) content among the different tillage practices. NTS maintained the highest dry matter accumulation throughout the whole growth stage among different treatments; it was increased by 10.47–73.33% compared with CT. The average grain yields and WUE of NTS across the three years were 6.09–30.70% and 6.79–40.55% higher than other tillage practices, respectively. It is concluded that NTS influences dry matter accumulation and water-use efficiency during the whole growth stage of spring wheat by improving the soil's physicochemical properties and modulating spring wheat substances related to stress, which in turn promotes yield formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] To investigate the effects of tillage practices, irrigation amount and their interaction on the growth, development and yield of wheat. [Methods] Two factors, tillage practices and irrigation amount were set in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. Four tillage practices, rotary tillage straw mulching conventional sowing (XG), straw mulching no tillage sowing (MG), traditional tilling (CT) and subsoiling straw mulching (SS), and five irrigation levels, 900, 1 350, 1 800, 2 250 and 2 700 m³/hm² were set to determine wheat seedling rate, plant height, leaf area index, yield traits and grain yield. In addition, the interactions between the indexes were analyzed. [Results] With average seedling rate of 96.55%, MG had the highest seedling rate. Except for CT, under XG, MG and SS treatment, wheat plant height at maturity increased gradually with the increase of irrigation amount, with the maximum of 93.52, 95.67 and 94.00 cm, respectively. The wheat leaf area index was affected by tillage practices, and was significantly (P<0.05) different under different irrigation amount. Under different tillage practices the five irrigation levels had different effect on the growth and development of wheat. The wheat yield under MG treatment was significantly higher than that of other treatments (P<0.05), and the maximum yield was 8 152.63 kg/hm² under irrigation amount of 2 700 m³/hm², followed by the yield of 6 493.55 kg/hm2 at irrigation amount of 2 250 m³/hm². [Conclusion] In Chifeng City, straw mulching no tillage sowing along with irrigation of 1 350-2 250 m³/hm² for wheat planting could achieve water conservation and productive yield improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil erosion and drought are significant environmental hazards for crop production in the northwestern coastal zone of Egypt, leading to increased soil resources degradation. In-situ rainwater harvesting techniques by changing the micro-topography of soil via tillage practices can increase runoff retention and improve soil productivity. In this study, field trials were conducted on a sandy loam soil to determine the effects of four tillage systems [integrated ridge-furrow tillage (RFT), integrated reservoir tillage (RT), conventional tillage (CT), and No tillage (NT)] on soil bulk density, volumetric water content, runoff, soil loss, precipitation use efficiency, and winter wheat yield during two growing seasons under-rainfed conditions. The results indicated that tillage systems significantly affected soil properties, precipitation use efficiency and wheat yield in the order of: RFT > RT > CT > NT. Compared with the CT, the mean runoff with the developed RFT and RT was significantly decreased by 55.4% and 40.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the precipitation use efficiency increased by 18.1% and 9.5%, respectively. By taking into account the stability of soil productivity along with environmental protection, it is suggested that the RFT and RT are the tillage systems that can efficiently increase the availability of soil water and, consequently, wheat yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen application has a significant impact on wheat crop phenology and crop stand. To optimize nitrogen sources i.e. urea, farmyard manure (FYM) and poultry manure (PM) for improving wheat phenology and crop stand, an experiment was conducted at Agriculture Research Station Perdal Khel, Bannu (South part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan) during 2016-17. The soil of the experimental area was Loamy sand with Haplic yermosols soil series based on FAO classification. The experiment comprised of three tillage practices i.e. Shallow tillage (ST), Conventional tillage (CT) and Deep tillage (DT) and eight nitrogen treatments (Control, 100% Urea, 100% FYM, 100% PM, 50% Urea/FYM, 50% Urea/PM, 50% FYM/PM and 33.33% each PM/FYM/Urea). These ratios provided a total of 120 kg N ha-1. The wheat cv. Pakhtunkhwa-2015 was sown with seed of 120 kg ha-1. The CT resulted in early phenology (days to emergence (11.5 days), booting (105 days), anthesis (116 days), and physiological maturity (155 days) whereas, DT delayed the phenological events. Among nitrogen ratios sole use of urea had delayed booting (108.1 days), anthesis (122.9 days) and physiological maturity (162.5 days) stages, whereas different ratios of Urea, FYM and PM resulted in early phenological observations. The use of urea, FYM and PM (33.33% each) had produced more tillers m-2 (288 tiller m-2) as compared to sole source or control plots. Conclusively, CT performed better than DT for wheat crop phenology and crop stand. Similarly, Urea, FYM and PM applied in equal ratio improved crop stand whereas sole urea delayed phenology of wheat crop. Thus, it is recommended that 120 kg N ha-1 supplied as 33.3% from urea, FYM and PM combined with CT practice is more favorable production technology to improve crop stand of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field study was carried out to determine the effect of tillage with and without residues and organic and inorganic fertilizers on yield of wheat-maize cropping systems in the erosion-vulnerable sub-humid area. Treatments included tillage levels i.e. ST (shallow tillage), STR (shallow tillage with residues), DT (deep tillage) and DTR (deep tillage with residues). Sub plots had three fertilizer's levels viz. F1 (control), F2 (inorganic fertilizers) and F3 (farm yard manure; FYM+ inorganic fertilizers). Deep tillage increased wheat yield by 60%, 37% and 29% over ST, STR and DTR, respectively. F2 and F3 increased grain and straw yield compare to F1. In the case of maize, DT increased grain yield by 53%, 20% and 15%, over ST, STR and DTR, respectively. Deep tillage showed statistically higher water use efficiency (WUE) of 4.56 kg ha-1 mm-1 and 4.02 kg ha-1 mm-1 for both wheat and maize, respectively. However, similar WUE of wheat and maize was recorded for F2 and F3. Soil nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium after wheat-maize cropping rotations significantly responded to tillage, residues and organic and inorganic fertilizers. These results suggest that deep tillage has the potential to increase crop yield and WUE of wheat-maize cropping system in mountainous and sub-humid conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop rotation and tillage systems have important implications for weed infestation and crop productivity. In this study, five tillage systems viz . zero tillage (ZT), conventional tillage (CT), deep tillage (DT), bed sowing (60/30 cm with four rows; BS 1 ) and bed sowing (90/45 cm with six rows; BS 2 ) were evaluated in five different crop rotations viz . fallow-wheat (FW), rice-wheat (RW), cotton-wheat (CW), mungbean-wheat (MW) and sorghum-wheat (SW) for their effect on weed infestation and productivity of bread wheat. Interaction between different tillage practices and cropping systems had significant effect on density and dry biomass of total, broadleaved and grass weeds, agronomic and yield-related traits, and grain yield of bread wheat. The un-disturbed soils (ZT) under fallow-wheat or mungbean-wheat rotations favoured the weed prevalence (a total weed dry biomass of 72.4–109.6 and 105.6–112.1 g m −2 in first and second year, respectively). Contrary to this, the disturbed soils (CT, DT, BS 1 and BS 2 ) had less weed infestation with either of the rotations (a total weed biomass of 0.4–7.1 and 1.1–5.4 g m −2 in first and second year, respectively). Sorghum-wheat rotation had strong suppressive effect on weed infestation in all tillage systems. The impact of crop rotation was more visible during second year of experimentation. Bed sown wheat (BS 1 and BS 2 ) in mungbean-wheat rotation had the highest wheat grain yield (6.30–6.47 t ha −1 ) compared to other tillage systems in different crop rotation combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted on different tillage on soil depths (i.e., 0-15 cm, 16 to 30 cm, and 31 to 45 cm) and showed significant influence on pH, electrical conductivity of soil (ECe), soil aggregates, organic matter (OM), calcium, magnesium, chloride, carbonate, and bicarbonate. The tillage practices were shallow and deep tillage-assisted with compost, poultry residuals, NPK, and FM (farmyard manure) in the study area for the wheat crop. It was found that the most effective tillage practices were Deep + NPK and Deep + FM in the study area for the crop. The maximum values of micro, macro, and stability aggregates ranged from 10.86 to 21.41, 73.32 to 82.95, and 13.63 to 28.71 g/m3 while treated with different shallow and deep manure in the wheat experiment during cropping years 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. Similarly, the OM ranges from 0.60 to 1.48 in the wheat experiment during 2019-20. The present experiment found that the most efficient tillage methods for the wheat crop were shallow tillage + compost and deep tillage + NPK respectively. On the other hand, the highest calcium (Deep + FM), magnesium (Deep + Poultry, Shallow + FM), chloride (Deep + NPK and compost), and carbonate and bicarbonate (Deep + FM and Compost) treatments were found during the cropping year 2019-20 and 2020-21 experiments. Based on experimental results under wheat crop, application of reduced tillage treatment is recommended that would increase the greater marginal rate of return as compared to conventional and no-tillage treatments. Comparable investigations need to be carried out in other ecological zones of Pakistan on different types of soils to introduce appropriate tillage practices that perform better and are site-specific not only for wheat rotation but for other crops. Further experiments should be conducted to analyze the impact of deep tillage treatments on the tillage practices and organic fertilizers on soil properties, growth, and yield of the wheat crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tillage practice and N management was hypothesized to play a significant role in crop production by influencing soil physical properties. Present field experiment was conducted to assess the effect of different tillage practices and nitrogen rates on soil physical properties and growth of wheat crop. Three tillage practices [conventional (four ploughing + one planking); reduced (two ploughing + one planking); and zero (no ploughing and no planking)] and four N rates [control; 75 kg N ha?1; 150 kg N ha?1; and 200 kg N ha?1] were imposed in all possible combinations in a split plot randomized complete block design. Tillage practices significantly affected grain and straw yields with maximum yields were achieved in conventional tillage than reduced and zero tillage practices. Application of N also significantly affected grain and straw yields. Maximum grain yield was recorded when either 150or 200 kg N was applied ha?1 under conventional tillage. Root growth was also influenced by tillage practices and it was increased with increasing tillage intensity. Nitrogen application significantly increased root length up to recommended rate. Maximum N in seed and straw was observed under conventional tillage and it increased with increasing N rates. Soil properties such as bulk density, total porosity and organic C were also significantly affected by different tillage practices with maximum values at conventional tillage practice. It is concluded that conventional tillage improved crop yield as compared to zero tillage and a rate of 150 kg N ha?1 is suitable for optimum yield with the said tillage practice. The results might vary in long term experiments; therefore, further investigations are required to elaborate these findings.

The choice of right tillage practice is very important for sustainable and economic wheat production. This two-year consecutive (Rabi 2008 and 2009) field study was planned to evaluate the energy consumption for wheat production under different tillage practices. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design on an area of 5400 m2 (60 m × 90 m). There were three treatments, i.e. T1: Conventional tillage (CT), T2: Reduced tillage (RT) and T3: No-tillage (NT). Each treatment was replicated three times. The results revealed that the speed of operation was maximum (5.51 and 5.56 km hr-1) under CT, followed by RT (5.23 and 5.25 km hr-1) and NT (4.1 and 4.14 km hr-1). Furthermore, the effective field capacity was maximum under CT system (0.48 and 0.49 ha hr-1), followed by NT (0.45 and 0.47 ha hr-1) and lowest under RT (0.30 and 0.32 ha hr-1). Similarly, the power requirement without load and with load was highest under CT (255 and 2077 kg), followed by RT (238 and 1572 kg) and NT (198 and 1270 kg). Likewise, the energy requirement was highest in CT system (33 and 34 KW-hr ha-1), followed by RT (23 and 22 KW-hr ha-1) and NT (14 and 13 KW-hr ha-1). Moreover, the fuel consumption was highest under CT (27.0 and 26.33 Lit ha-1), followed by the RT system (22.33 and 20.66 Lit ha-1) and NT practice (12.33 and 11.0 Lit ha-1). The study concluded that reduced tillage practice is more energy-efficient than conventional tillage practice for sustainable wheat production.

To study the effect of different tillage practices on physical properties of a silty clay loam soil under irrigated wheat in a semi-arid environment, a field experiment was conducted at the research farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan during 2009-10 and 2010-2011, The tillage practices consisted of five treatments i.e. tine cultivator twice (TC-2), chisels plow (CR), moldboard plow (MR), disk plow (DR) and tine cultivator once (TCR), each followed by a rotavator except the first treatment. Soil moisture content, bulk density and soil penetration resistances were recorded. The results showed that tillage practices had significant (p < 0.05) effect on soil moisture content, soil penetration resistance and bulk density at both soil depths (0-20 cm, 20-40 cm). The highest soil moisture content and lowest bulk density or soil penetration resistance were recorded for soil tilled with chisel plow or moldboard plow at both soil depths. Soil physical conditions were generally improved with time as moisture conservation in soil increased while soil bulk density and soil penetration resistance decreased at both soil depths in second year as compared to first year of study. These results suggested that deep tillage practices (chisel plow, moldboard plow) performed better than shallow tillage practices (tine cultivator), and hence is recommended to improve soil moisture conservation and reduce both soil bulk density and penetration resistance under semi-arid environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of mulching materials has significantly improved the production of wheat in semi-arid regions. However, various mulching applications under different tillage practices, whether it can improve the root growth, spatial distribution of root, nutrients uptake and grain yield of wheat is not clear. Therefore, a two years field study was carried out during 2016–17 and 2017–18 to evaluate root growth, nutrients uptake, and wheat production under six treatments: CT: conventional planting; SM: wheat stalk mulching; FM: plastic mulching; RT: without plastic mulching with furrow and ridge planting; RP: plastic mulching with furrow and ridge planting; RPS: plastic mulching on ridges and stalk mulching on furrows. Under the RPS treatment, root biomass, soil moisture, soil enzymatic activity, and microbial abundance can be significantly improved, thus promoting root growth, nutrient absorption, and wheat production. The RPS treatment significantly improved the rooting system in the upper soil profile of 50 cm, which helped increase the yield of wheat. At various wheat growth stages, the RPS and RT treatment at the depth of 10–50 cm significantly increased root bleeding saps, and RLD, and reached up to the highest value at 125 DAP. However, there were no differences in RLD between the six different treatment methods in deeper soil profiles below 60 cm. In addition, during 2016–17 and 2017–18, the NH 4 + and NO 3 - delivery rates under the RPS were significantly higher than that of FM and RT, while the delivery rates of NH 4 + and NO 3 - under the RP treatment were maximum compared with FM practice. Under the RPS and RT treatments, the Fe, Ca, P, Zn, K, and Mg delivery rates were significantly maximum. In summary, RPS farming practices have been great potential to improve the rhizosphere environment, root biomass, and wheat yield in semi-arid regions. • Exploiting maize production, nutrients uptake through co-benefit of planting practices. • Ridge and furrow system can improve rhizosphere soil environment and microbial abundance. • Mulching materials has been great potential to improve root biomass and root bleeding saps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]