Crop management effect on chemical and biological properties of soil

Abstract

<span>This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of crop rotation and various tillage systems on<br /><span>the chemical and biological properties of soil in the years 2013-2015. The first order factor<br /><span>included cropping systems: a) crop rotation (pea – winter wheat – spring wheat) and b)<br /><span>monoculture of winter wheat, whereas the second order factor were tillage systems:<br /><span>1) conventional (CT), 2) reduced (RT) and 3) No-tillage (NT). In the autumn season, in the CT<br /><span>system, shallow ploughing (at the depth of 10–12 cm) and pre-winter ploughing (25–30 cm)<br /><span>were applied for pea and spring wheat crops, whereas shallow ploughing and pre-sow ploughing<br /><span>(20–22 cm) were applied for winter wheat crop; in the RT system, only a cultivator was applied<br /><span>for spring wheat and pea crops as well as a cultivator and a tillage set for winter wheat; in the<br /><span>NT system glyphosate was applied on all plots as well as a cultivator and a tillage set were used<br /><span>before winter wheat sowing. The study demonstrated that the soil sampled from plots with crop<br /><span>rotation contained more organic C and available forms of P, K and Mg and that it was<br /><span>characterized by a higher activity of dehydrogenase, phosphatase and urease than the soil<br /><span>sampled from monoculture. In addition, it was characterized by a higher number of earthworms<br /><span>than the soil from monoculture. The RT and NT systems affected an increase in the contents of<br /><span>organic C and total N and in the enzymatic activity of soil, compared to the CT system.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span>