Growth Parameters, Yield and Grain Quality of Different Winter Wheat Cultivars Using Strip Tillage in Relation to the Intensity of Post-Harvest Soil Cultivation

The research has been undertaken to determine whether it is worthwhile to do a post-tillage on stubble before applying strip-till or whether tillage operations such as tillage and stubble ploughing should be performed. Therefore, ploughed tillage + strip tillage (PT), stubble discing + strip tillage (SD) and strip tillage (ST) operations were evaluated on three genetically distant winter wheat cultivars, including Formacja, Metronom and Desamo. A three-year field experiment was conducted from 2018 to 2021 at the Agricultural Experimental Station Kepa-Osiny in Pulawy, Poland. The experiment design was a split-block design with four repetitions of every treatment. The results showed that the cultivars differed in dry matter growth. However, no differences were found between the cultivar and post-harvest tillage method in terms of dry matter, plant height, and flag leaf area. Grain yield per ear was the main factor of yield variation across the cultivar and tillage systems. The extent of tillage only in the case of previously performed ploughing had an effect on the thousand grain weight. On the other hand, the omission of post-harvest tillage (ST) had a positive effect on the sedimentation index value. In terms of wheat grain yield, plough tillage (PT) proved to be the most advantageous, while reducing the intensity of tillage caused a systematic decrease in yield by 6% in the SD treatment and 9% in the ST treatment, respectively. Other quality parameters (gluten quantity, gluten index, falling number) did not depend on the applied tillage range. The response of cultivars to the applied cultivation methods was generally similar. Due to the beneficial effect of reducing the scope of cultivation on the environment, a small reduction in yield and no negative impact on the quality characteristics of grain, it is recommended to use strip-till cultivation without prior post-harvest cultivation. The results provide new insights into the growth of different winter wheat cultivars and the postharvest tillage applied, and they can be used in the future to validate existing wheat growth models.