TILLAGE-INDUCED SOIL CHANGES AND RELATED GRAIN-YIELD IN A SEMIARID REGION

This study was conducted to determine the tillage-induced soil changes and related grain yield and grain N concentration for two crop rotations in a semi-arid region. Soil physical and chemical properties were measured in winter wheat-barley-fallow and continuous wheat rotations under no-till (NT) and conventional till (CT), on a Lethbridge loam and a Chin clay loam in a semi-arid region of Alberta. Soil moisture, temperature, bulk density and inorganic N were measured. The effects of tillage-induced soil changes on grain yield and grain N concentration were assessed. The dominant effect on grain N concentration was an inverse relationship with grain yield. However, when grain yields were similar between tillage systems, greater inorganic N with the CT treatment was reflected in larger grain N concentrations for CT. Conserving both seedbed moisture and total soil water by reducing tillage had beneficial effects on crop yield in this semi-arid region. -from Authors