The effect of minimum cultivation on the incidence of take‐all down the root profile of winter wheat

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SUMMARY: The effects of direct drilling, shallow cultivation and ploughing on the infection of winter wheat roots by the take‐all fungus (Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici) were studied on three field sites over a number of years. All three soil types were categorised by Cannell, Davies, Mackney & Pidgeon (1978) as suitable for sequential direct drilling. The results show that a smaller proportion of roots was infected at depth in the direct‐drilled plots in May/June. However by July these differences had all but disappeared and an estimate of infection in the top 7 cm of the roots (approximately equivalent to traditional hand sampling for take‐all) gave a reliable comparison of the total take‐all on plants grown under these different cultivation systems.