Effectiveness of Different Types of Basic Tillage in the Central Experimental Field of the Kurgan Research Institute

A comparison of 2 types of autumn tillage (plowing and surface) in the experience of the Kurgan Research Institute of Agricultural Sciences showed a slight advantage of plowing to accumulate moisture in a 1-meter layer of medium-loamy leached chernozem by 9–11 mm in the first 2 crops of the grain-fallow crop rotation (108–97, 90–81 mm, respectively) and by 6 mm in permanent wheat crops (89–83 mm). In the 3rd wheat crops, the amount of productive moisture after fallow was the same and amounted to 86 mm. The content of nitrate nitrogen in the 0–40 cm soil layer differed from year to year depending on the vaporization conditions and the amount of heat in the spring in April–May, when soil samples were taken. On average, without fertilizer, it was higher after fallow: 71 kg/ha during plowing and 63 kg/ha during surface treatment, in the following crops – 37–42 and 31–38 kg/ha. Due to the introduction of N40, the content of N–NO₃ increased by 1.5 times or more. The first crop after fallow was characterized by a greater abundance of wheat seedlings. There was a noticeable decrease in the number of seedlings in permanent wheat crops during surface tillage. The contamination of crops was more dependent on weather conditions, increasing sharply in 2007 and 2009, which was caused by the ripening of weed seeds in the previous dry years. The mass of weeds in the total sheaf in those years was 13–25% in 2007 and 23–45% in 2009. They were mostly grass weeds. In other years, the proportion of weeds was at the level of 3–4% during plowing and 6–8% during surface treatment. In permanent wheat crops, this indicator was 10 and 14%, depending on the method of tillage. The formation of the crop was more related to the place of wheat in the crop rotation, but in each field these indicators were higher during plowing. The application of fertilizers brought wheat yields closer together with these studied tillage methods. Continuous cultivation of wheat in the same field lost yields, but grain production had similar results to crop rotation. The economic assessment of grain production showed that the profitability of crop rotation without fertilizer was higher: 24% during plowing and 22% during surface treatment. With the addition of N40 in the 3^rd and 4th fields, in addition to natural fallow nitrogen, costs increased and profitability decreased to 10–11%. Repeated sowing of wheat without fertilizer with 2 types of tillage was characterized by the same profitability of 6%, with the addition of annual fertilizer costs and for more sowing operations, profitability became negative.