Comparison of different soil tillage systems, under several crop rotations

in wheat production at Central Anatolian Plateu in Turkey

İrfan GÜLTEKİN, R. Zafer ARISOY , Alper TANER, Yasin KAYA, Fevzi PATİGÖÇ, Şeref AKSOYAK

Address : P.O.Box: 125, Konya – TURKEYhttp: www.bdutae.gov.tre-mail: irfangultekin@yahoo.com

Presentation parts

• Introduction of country and region• Background• The objectives of this study• Materials and methods of field works and

evaluation• Research Results• Conclusion• Summary

Turkey is located in the northern hemisphere between the 36º - 42º northern parallel and the 26º - 45º eastern meridianThe country consists of seven regions, with varying climate and topograpy

Introduction

The Central Anatolian Plateu (CAP)• High plateau average altitute 1000 m, surrounded by mountains• The climate is continental Summers are hot and dryWinters are cold and snowySpring and fall are warm and rainy Average annual, rainfall around 300 mm tempereture 11 O C evaporation 1332 mm

Introduction

Agricultural lands (M ha)

• The CAP region, about 15 % of land can be irrigated• Winter wheat is the main crop and wheat fallow is

the traditional rotation system • Fallow takes 14 mounths• Nearly 100 % of farmers apply conventional tillage

Introduction

Total Area Sown Area Fallow LandTURKEY 20 16.5 3.5CAP 9 7 2

The main purpose of tillage is to increases yieldThe current average conventional practice wheat yield is 2,3 t/ haTillage time and equipments effected wheat yieldBut amount of water (rainfall) is higher effect than tillage on wheat yield

Introduction

Tillage is expensive and also has a quite harmful effect on soil propertiesFarmers use 35 l/ha diesel and 5 h/ha labor, so the represents 13 % of total costOver 4.5Mha of cultivated land in CAP is at risk of erosion 75 percent of agricultural land has less than 2% organic matter

The advantage of No-till and reduced tillage

• Grain yields significantly greater (Hammel 1995, Papendick and Parr, 1997)

• Reduced crop production costs (Soanne and Ball 1998)

• Reduced soil erosion (Logan et al.1991, Choudhary et al. 1997)

• Saving more precipitation for crop production (Peterson et al. 1996, Tanaka and Anderson 1997)

• Increased organic matter content (Havlin et al. 1990, Six et al. 1999)

Background

• To evaluate the effect of tillage and previous crops on wheat yield with irrigated and non irrigated CAP contitions

• Which is the profitable systems in CAP conditions?

• Is there possible adopting alternative farming practice in our conditons?

The objectives of this study

• The split-plot design were used with tillage management as main plots and rotation treatment as a sub plot, over 4 years

• Individual plot size was 10 x 8 = 80 m2 with each plot replicated 3 times

Materials and Methods

The field experiments were established in 2002, carried out under rainfed and irrigated

field conditions in Konya province

Tillage management

1.Conventional tillage (CT)2.Reduced tillage (RT) 3.No-till (NT)

Materials and Methods

Introduction

First mould board ploughing was used after harvesting or in early spring at a tillage depth of almost 25 cm, followed by two cultivator passes before planting, with a tillage depth was almost 10 cm and sowing with a conventional seed drill

Conventional tillage (CT)

Reduced tillage (RT)

Glyphosate herbicide was applied in early spring or before planting, then rototiller was used, at a tillage depth of almost 10 cm, before sowing with a seed drill

Research Results

No-till (NT)

Direct drilling was used without any prior tillage but glyphosate herbicide was applied in early spring or before planting

Materials and Methods

Materials and Methods

Irrigated conditionsa. Continuous winter wheatb. Beans-winter wheat c. Sugar beet-winter wheat Rainfed conditionsd. Continuous winter wheat e. Chickpea-winter wheat f. Fallow-winter wheat

The rotation treatment

• The first tillage and herbicide applications in fallow were performed in April when the soil is suitable for plowing

• Residue was retained on the soil surface • Winter wheat was generally planted at

September and was harvested in mid July• Fertilizer application followed locally

recommended• Providing the same amount of water on

irrigated experiment

Materials and Methods

The effect of tillage management and the previous crop on winter wheat yield was determined in

2005 and 2007

• Treatment effects were compared through an analysis of variance using ANOVA with year effects as random

• Partial budgeting techniques were used to calculate the variable costs of production for each tillage system including any costs that vary in proportion to the area planted

• The wheat prices are the regional bench mark

Materials and Methods

Fallow Wheat Chickpea0

0.5

1

1.5

1.248 1.1471.037

(t/h

a)

Different crop rotation mean wheat yield

Research Results

Rainfed Conditions

Research Results

CT RT NT0

0.5

1

1.5

0.907

1.2071.317

(t/h

a)

Mean wheat yield under different tillage system

Rainfed Conditions

Mean production value, variable costs, and gross return from different tillage systems

CT RT NT0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

45027

9.96

372.

66

413.

07

222.

22

188.

88

108.

8

57.7

4

183.

37

297.

52

Production valueVariable costGross Return

(US

$)

Research Results

Rainfed Conditions

Different crop rotation mean wheat yield

Wheat Beans Sugar beet0

1

2

3

4

5

6

2.53

5.4595.222

(t/h

a)Irrigated Conditions

Research Results

Mean wheat yield under different tillage system

CT RT NT0

1

2

3

4

5

4.403 4.415 4.39299999999999

(t/h

a)

Research Results

Irrigated Conditions

Mean wheat yield under different tillage system and crop rotations

CT RT NT0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

WheatWheat Wheat

Beans Beans BeansSugar beet

Sugar beet Sugar beetWheatBeansSugar beet

(t/h

a)Irrigated ConditionsResearch Results

Continious wheat yield

1. Year 2. Year 3. Year 4. Year0

1

2

3

4

5

CTRTNT(t

/ha)

Research Results

Irrigated Conditions

Mean production value, variable costs, and gross return from different tillage systems

CT RT NT0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

160014

08.8

5

1412

.8

1405

.76

197.

77

171.

11

91.1

1

1197

.74

1241

.69

1314

.66

Production value

Variable cost

Gross Return

(US

$)

Research Results

Irrigated Conditions

The alternative tillage treatments, No-till and Reduced till,

could be increased yield and profitability Right management, especially crop rotations are necessrary

Wheat-Wheat (No-till)

Beans + Wheat

Conclusion

Less yield and high amount of protuction value with soil degredations are major

problems for conventional tillage winter wheat-summer fallow in CAP

The farmers need to switch from conventional to reduced tillage or no-tillBecause those new systems are performed high yield capasity and more profitable

Summary

THANK YOU