Effect of Tillage Depth on Some Soil Characteristics and Productivity

Ameerah H.Atiyah(1)* Adnan S.Falih(1)Raied H.Mohammad(1)  and Tarq J.Jalud(1)

(1). Agricultural Research Directorate, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq.

(*Corresponding author: Ameerah H. Atiyah, E-mail: alsadiameera@yahoo.com)

Received:20/06/2023          Accepted: 27/12/2022

Abstract: 

A Field study was conducted at a soil and water resources research station   in Al – Shikhan , Nineveh Government ( northern part of Iraq ) to compare the effect of tillage depth on some soil physical, and chemical characteristics and land productivity. Mung bean (Vigna radita L.) and Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were cultivated in 3 crop rotation cycles 2017-2018. The experiment was designed with Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates to study three tillage depth treatments (I)No tillage(NT), (II)Minimum tillage 0-15cm (MT), and (III) Conventional tillage 0-30 cm(CT). The results showed that soil bulk density values increased with increasing tillage depth Where the percentage of increase in the bulk density was 5.67% for the treatment of conventional tillage. While the stability rates of soil aggregate were decreased with increasing tillage depth, increasing tillage depth led to decreased soil organic carbon content and an increase in available water amount with less tillage depth. Grain yield was increasing with minimizing tillage depth. Also, the production of agricultural land increased with reducing tillage depth the increase rate was 12% for NT treatment, 6.4% for MT treatment, and 2% for CT treatment.

Key words: Tillage depth , Soil Characteristics, productivity.

Full paper in Arabic: pdf