Effects of soil cultivation on the growth and yield of winter wheat. II—‘stand’ and tillering

✍ Scribed by Khazan Singh

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1952
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 599 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5142
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.2740030804

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

1. Investigations into the effects of cultivation on the stand and tillering of winter wheat were carried out during three years, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48 in Scotland at six farms, using four varieties of winter wheat. The three cultivation treatments consisted of ploughing to 8 in. depth, and shallow and deep cultivations to 2 in. and 4 in. respectively with a tine cultivator.

2. Cultivation effects on the shoot number of winter wheat were unaffected by season or variety, but varied with the nature of soil, the effects being more pronounced in the open textured and light soils than in the compact and heavy soils.

Shallow cultivation gave greater shoot numbers in the July stand and compensated for the poor ‘initial stand’ to a greater extent than did ploughing and deep cultivation. This was attributed to greater tillering of the plant in the shallow‐cultivated plots, owing to greater moisture, and to higher temperatures in the compact shallow‐cultivated plots than in the loose‐ploughed and deep‐cultivated plots.

3. The influences of spacing and cultivation on shoot number and tillering of winter wheat were investigated. The effect of spacing diminished with decline in the initial stand due to its inability to compensate for the loss of plants; it diminished also at higher levels of initial stand due to the dominating effect of initial stand on the final stand. The effect of shallow cultivation also diminished with decline in the initial stand, and affected the increase in shoot number at higher levels of initial stand. As a result of nitrogen deficiency in the shallow‐cultivated plots, reduction in the shoot number occurred in these plots in September.