Analysis of Economic and Energy Indicators in Different Methods of Protective Tillage in Wheat Cultivar (Case Study: Dasht-e Naz Sari Agro-Industrial Company)

Introduction[1]Conservation agriculture is a powerful factor in accessing future food needs. Protective agricultural practices can preserve and regenerate soil. Conservation tillage is a method for managing droughts to maintain ground water, as well as reducing agricultural production costs and increasing soil organic matter. According to the research, about 60% of the mechanical energy used in mechanized agriculture is related to soil tillage operations. The precision of the use of field implements and logs is important for any kind of tillage equipment (Larney et al., 2017). Appropriate tillage methods, depending on the soil type and climatic conditions, can be effective in achieving suitable water conditions in the soil. When the soil is facing limited water supply, tillage is done to maximize soil moisture retention. Energy consumption analysis can show how to reduce energy input into the production system and increase energy efficiency. In order to deal with and prevent such a situation, conservation is considered as an effective solution in many countries of the world. One of the basic goals of each production sector, such as agriculture, is to increase production and reduce costs. Therefore, it is important to determine economic indicators by determining production costs and yield, as well as determining the ratio of profit to cost (Erdal et al., 2007). In this research, the energy and economic indices and seed yield for different protective tillage systems of wheat cultivation with wheat yield approach were compared.Material and MethodsIn this research, the state of energy consumption and economic efficiency of different tillage systems in native conditions of agricultural plain of Naz was investigated for wheat. Tillage systems included conventional tillage (CT), no tillage and no plant remnants (NT), minimum tillage using combinate (MTCO), minimum tillage using no tillage planting machine (MTNT), no tillage with plant remnants (NTR). The purpose of this study was to study the energy consumption and economic efficiency of different soil tillage systems in native conditions of Naz Sardinia plain.Results and DiscussionIn wheat cultivation, the MTCO system had the highest wheat grain yield and energy indices, the system with a ratio of 4.84 to 4.9% energy, to 29.9 kg.MJ-1 of energy efficiency, and to 3.42 MJ.kg-1 of intensity Energy is the best system for wheat cultivation in terms of energy indicators. The NTR system with direct energy consumption of 4570, indirect 17163, renewable 2561 and non-renewable 19398, as well as energy systems of 4376 MJ.ha-1, in general, was the least energy-consuming system in terms of energy, but had a low yield of 5025 kg.ha-1 of wheat Should be. Looking at the obtained values ​​for economic indicators of protective systems in wheat cultivation, NT and NTR systems in profit and cost indicators and economic productivity are respectively 13.8 and 13.4% higher than the CT system, and also with 22 and 21% higher gross profit compared to the CT system, both showed acceptable yield for these indices. Also, in the Economic Indicators section, despite the lower cost of production for the NTR system, the MTCO system has 26% higher performance and higher sales prices and 25.5% lower than the NTR system and 35.2% more gross margin than the NTR system. MTCO system has the best status among 5 systems in terms of profit-to-cost and economic efficiency indices with 34.4% difference compared to CT system. In general, MTCO, MTNT, NT, NTR and CT systems are maximal to minimum for all gross profit, gross margin, profit-to-cost, profitability, and sales margins, respectively.ConclusionEventually, the MTCO system, with its superiority in energy and economic indicators, was introduced as the optimal option for tillage and planting of wheat in the native conditions of the agricultural plains of Naz.