Barley, soybean and maize production using ridge tillage, no-tillage and conventional tillage in north-east Italy

Ridge tillage can be considered as an alternative to no-tillage in climates and environments which are not very favourable for the latter. It has been conceived almost exclusively for crops such as maize and soybean and this creates difficulties if small grains are introduced into a rotation based on the ridge tillage system. This paper describes the selection and adaptation of equipment for sowing in a ridge tillage system, the evaluation of their performance, and effects on a barley-soybean-maize rotation in comparison with conventional tillage and no-tillage. The experimental site of around 4 ha, was divided into 12 plots cultivated using conventional tillage (CT), ridge tillage (RT) and no-tillage (NT). The parameters studied in each of the crop cycles included work capacity of the seed drills; analysis of the soil surface profile in the ridge following each crop operation from sowing to harvesting; uniformity of emergence in five sample areas of each plot; final plant density, grain yield and total harvested biomass. All the crops grown with RT and NT had lower densities than those obtained with CT. This led to reduced yields, apart from barley which was able to overcome poor plant density, with increased tillering supplying the same number of fertile culms as in CT. Some adaptation of the techniques and modifications to the machinery are proposed to reduce the yield losses in comparison with conventional sowing. (C) 1995 Silsoe Research Institute