Direct drilling and shallow cultivation compared with ploughing for spring barley on a clay loam in northern England

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Abstract
Summary: An experiment was made on a clay loam soil to compare direct drilling, shallow cultivation and ploughing for spring barley over a period of 3 years (1975–7). At a uniform rate of fertilizer application (75 kg N, 40 kg P2O6, 40 K2O/ha) combined drilled with the seed, the mean grain yields over 3 years were 5·89, 6·07 and 6·13 t/ha, respectively, direct drilling producing significantly less grain than shallow cultivation or ploughing in 1975 only.For 1975 and 1976 the mean uptake of nitrogen by shoots of barley at anthesis was 25 kg N/ha less after direct drilling than after ploughing but in 1977 there was no difference. The smaller uptake of nitrogen by direct-drilled barley in 1976 was more likely caused by less available nitrogen in the soil than by smaller root systems. Soil strength (cone resistance) and soil bulk density of the direct-drilled treatments were greater than those of the ploughed and shallow cultivated. Although concentration gradients of extractable phosphorus and potassium formed in direct-drilled and shallow-cultivated soils, the quantities of these nutrients in the top soil differed little between the treatments. After 3 years there were more deep burrowing earthworms (particularly Lumbricus terrestris) in tilled than in untilled soil.

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