The Influence of Soil Cultivation and Fertilization on the Yield and Protein Content in Seeds of Common PEA (Pisum Sativum L.)

The aim of this study is to assess the effect of different soil tillage in the interaction with fertilization and the use of post-harvest residues on yield and protein content in pea seeds, variety Dunaj. The field experiment was established in years 2009–2011 on Experimental Base of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Dolná Malanta. There were evaluated based upon three soil tillage methods (B1 – conventional tillage, B2 – reduced tillage, B3 – minimal tillage) and three treatments of fertilization (0 – unfertilized control, MF – balance fertilization by mineral fertilizers based on soil analysis and planned pea yield (3 t/ha), PHR – balance fertilization by mineral fertilizers + incorporation of post-harvest residues). Significantly higher seed yield was achieved at reduced tillage (3.28 t/ha) than conventional (3.12 t/ha) and minimized tillage (3.08 t/ha); however, most significantly, higher protein content in average of treatments was determined in conventional tillage (23.38%). Most significantly, negative linear correlation (r = −0.948⊕⊕⊕) was determined between the yield and crude protein content in pea seeds. Fertilized treatments reached highly significant higher yields of common pea than unfertilized control. Compared with the control, average yield was higher by 10.3% – 15.1%. Significantly higher crude protein contents by 0.86% (PHR) and 1.27% (MF) were reached on unfertilized treatments than on fertilized one. The highest content of crude protein (24.14%) and the highest production of it per hectare (759 kg/ha) were determined in treatment with post harvest residues ploughed into soil. Over an average of 3 years, the highest profit (163.87 €/ha) and return (30.7%) was achieved from the pea grown using fertilizing treatments (FM and PHR) at minimal soil tillage and systematic use of mineral fertilizers.