The impact of reduced soil tillage and crop rotation on winter wheat grain productivity and quality | Reducētās augsnes apstrādes un augmaiņas ietekme uz ziemas kviešu produktivitāti un graudu kvalitāti

English. Soil preparation is an energy-intensive process, therefore investigations how to substitute the traditional soil tillage with different minimum tillage systems are being carried out throughout the world. One of the aims of the project “Sustainable use of soil as the main resource for production of safe and qualitative food and feed from the main agricultural crops” is to explain the impact of the new technologies (minimum soil tillage in different variants of crop rotation or without crop rotation) on the yield and its quality, as well as on the changes in soil physical properties and chemical composition in a long-term period in comparison with the traditional production technology. After three to four years of research, some definite trends started to emerge. Overall, the trial included six cereal and rapeseed rotation variants in two blocks: traditional tillage (plough with mouldboard plough – 0.22–0.23 m), and minimum tillage (shallow tillage with disc harrow – 0.10–0.12 m). For almost all trial years, with the exception of 2012, crop rotation provided higher yields compared with continuous wheat sowings both in traditional and in minimum soil tillage. In continuous wheat sowings, significantly higher yields were obtained applying conventional tillage. Average four-year data show that crop rotation ensured higher stability of winter wheat grain yield regardless of the type of tillage. In continuous winter wheat, the yields were generally lower, and the benefits of traditional tillage were expressed more clearly. Grain quality indices by individual years varied over a quite considerable range. The 2012 year was especially unfavourable for the formation of winter wheat grain quality indices: protein content of all samples was approximately 2% lower compared to the previous year, and the sedimentation value was almost two times lower. This year, all samples for the gluten content of winter wheat grain did not meet the food wheat quality requirements. Consequently, the relatively low levels of quality indices for the year 2012 significantly influenced the average data.

Latvian. Augsnes apstrāde ir energoietilpīgs process, tādēļ pasaulē tiek veikti pētījumi kā tradicionālo augsnes apstrādi aizstāt ar dažādām augsnes minimālās apstrādes sistēmām. Viens no projekta „Augsnes kā galvenā resursa ilgtspējīga izmantošana drošu un kvalitatīvu pārtikas un lopbarības izejvielu ieguvei no plašāk audzētajām laukaugu sugām” mērķiem ir pētīt jauno tehnoloģiju (minimālās augsnes apstrādes bezmaiņas – nosacītas augu rotācijas sējumos) ietekmi uz ražas lielumu un tās kvalitāti, augsnes fizikālo īpašību un ķīmiskā sastāva izmaiņām ilgtermiņā salīdzinājumā ar tradicionālo audzēšanas tehnoloģiju. Pirmo četru gadu rezultāti pierāda, ka ziemas kviešu graudu ražas vairāk ietekmēja augmaiņa, mazāk – augsnes apstrādes veids. Graudu kvalitātes rādītāji nebija atkarīgi no audzēšanas tehnoloģijām, taču tos būtiski ietekmēja gada meteoroloģiskā situācija. Augsnē notiekošie procesi izmainās salīdzinoši ilgākā laika periodā, tāpēc pēc 3–4 gadu pētījumu rezultātiem var izdarīt orientējošus secinājumus, jo galīgo secinājumu izdarīšanai nepieciešami turpmākie pētījumi.