Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

S. Kosutic, S. Husnjak, D. Filipovic and M. Bogunovic:

Influence of different tillage systems on soil water availability in the Ap-horizon of an Albic Luvisol and yield in north-west Slavonia, Croatia

Summary

An experiment with five different tillage systems and their influence on soil water availability in the Ap-horizon (silty loam - Albic Luvisol) was carried out in the period of 1997-2000 in north-west Slavonia. The compared tillage systems were: 1. conventional tillage (CT), 2. reduced tillage (RT), 3. conservation tillage 1 (CP), 4. conservation tillage 11 (CM), 5. no-tillage system (NT). The crop rotation was winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) - soybean (Glycine max L.) - winter wheat. The gravimetric soil water content was measured at 0-5 cm, 15-20 cm and 30-35 cm layers and the percentage of available water capacity was calculated. The gravimetric soil water content at all three monitored layers so as the available soil water during all experimental seasons were the greatest under the NT system and the lowest under the CT system. The most frequent trend of the gravimetric soil water content and the available soil water was NT > CM > CP > RT > CT. The highest yield in all the experimental years was achieved under the CM tillage system, while the lowest yield was achieved under the RT system. Key words: soil water, conventional tillage, unconventional tillage systerns, winter wheat, soybean.