Ali Monsefi; Mojtaba Norouzi Masir; Yazdan Izadi
Abstract
Introduction: Despite the many benefits of tillage to crop establishment and production in the past, new herbicide and minimum-tillage management systems have drastically changed today's methods of crop production. Although tillage systems are used to increase soil porosity, they are a short-term solution ...
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Introduction: Despite the many benefits of tillage to crop establishment and production in the past, new herbicide and minimum-tillage management systems have drastically changed today's methods of crop production. Although tillage systems are used to increase soil porosity, they are a short-term solution that has negative consequences on surface soil structural stability, surface crop residue, and surface soil organic carbon, which are critical features that control water infiltration and subsequent water transmission and storage in soil. Physical and chemical properties of soil such as organic matter of soil is a key attribute of quality that affects water infiltration and soil aggregation. The use of conservation tillage along with the application of appropriate management methods such as conservation of residues, the use of proper rotation and weed control caused to stabilize the particles of soil, prevent the destruction of soil structure and increase soil organic matter. Therefore, changing the method of tillage systems from conventional to conservation, especially in crop rotation cycles, is inevitable. Our objectives were to summarize these findings and present additional information with particular emphasis on changes physical and chemical characteristics in different soil depths due to adoption of conservation tillage in corn-wheat crop rotation.Materials and Methods: The present study was performed to investigate tillage systems (4 levels including ZT-ZT: Zero Tillage-Zero Tillage; ZT-CT: : Zero tillage-Conventional Tillage; CT-CT: Conventional Tillage-Conventional Tillage and CT-ZT: Conventional Tillage-Zero Tillage) and 4 levels of weed management (including W1: Control; W2: Post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicide + hand weeded in cultivation of corn and post-emergence Metribuzin herbicide + hand weeded in cultivation of wheat; W3: Pre-emergence Atrazine + post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicides in cultivation of corn and post-emergence Clodinafop + post-emergence Bromoxynil+MCPA herbicides in cultivation of wheat; W4: Wheat residues as a mulch + post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicide in cultivation of corn and corn residues as a mulch + Metribuzin herbicide) on some physical and chemical properties of soil depths (D1: 0 -15 and D2: 15-30 cm) in corn-wheat rotation during the 2021-22 croping year in the farms of Shavur Agricultural Service Center of Shush city was implemented as a split-factorial in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications and 96 samples. Results and Discussion: The results showed that interaction of the studied treatments significant effects of the all studied traits except for soil pH. The minimum of soil bulk density was observed in conventional tillage-zero tillage × Wheat residues as a mulch + post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicide in cultivation of corn and corn residues as a mulch + Metribuzin herbicide as weed management treatment × 0-10 cm soil depths treatment with an average of 1.390 g/cm3, also, the highest hydraulic conductivity of the soil was obtained in conventional tillage-conventional tillage × pre-emergence Atrazine + post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicides in cultivation of corn and post-emergence Clodinafop + post-emergence Bromoxynil+MCPA herbicides in cultivation of wheat × 0-15 cm soil depths treatment (with an average of 0.994 cm/h). The highest amount of organic matter (with an average 0.771 percent) and phosphorus and potassium elements was achieved in zero tillage-zero tillage × wheat residues as a mulch + post-emergence Nicosulfuron herbicide in cultivation of corn and corn residues as a mulch + Metribuzin herbicide × 0-15 cm soil depths treatment (with averages of 13.96 and 234.7 mg/kg, respectively). Interaction effects results (tillage system × sampling depth) indicated that highest amount of total nitrogen was achieved in the zero tillage-zero tillage (ZT-ZT) on soil surface layer (0-15 cm sampling depth) with an average 122.0 kg / ha with an increase of 40.1% compared to the other treatment such as zero tillage-conventional tillage (ZT-CT), conventional tillage-conventional tillage (CT-CT) and conventional tillage-zero tillage (CT-ZT) and soil substrate (15-30 cm sampling depth, with an average of 0.87 kg/ha). In addition, the preservation of residues in the form of mulch and the use of post-emergence Nicosulfuron and Metribuzin herbicides led to maintaining the balance of soil pH in the corn-wheat rotation.Conclusion: Steady-state soil chemical and physical properties was greater under zero tillage than under conventional tillage as a result of soil structural improvements associated with surface residue accumulation and lack of soil disturbance. In addition, our data indicate that conservation tillage along with the application of crops residues in corn-wheat crop rotation is a viable management strategy to improve soil quality in the warm, semiarid region of Khuzestan Province. This strategy could lead to high production, minimal negative environmental impacts, and a socially acceptable farming system. Therefore, the use of previous crop residues in tillage systems will have a positive effect on improving the physical and chemical properties of the soil.
Ali Monsefi
Abstract
Introduction Herbicides are chemicals that are used to inhibit the growth or to eliminate weeds in agricultural fields to increase the yield of crops in crop production. By the end of the 19th century, with the increasing labor supply problems, the need for chemical methods to control weeds became apparent. ...
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Introduction Herbicides are chemicals that are used to inhibit the growth or to eliminate weeds in agricultural fields to increase the yield of crops in crop production. By the end of the 19th century, with the increasing labor supply problems, the need for chemical methods to control weeds became apparent. It was first reported in France in the 1980s, that sulfuric acid was used in the fight against weeds in sugar beet fields. Nowadays, most of the herbicides used are organic herbicides, which share organic carbon in their chemical structure. The use of herbicides since about a century ago has been suggested as an effective way of eliminating crop competitors, though herbicides that remain in the soil for longer periods of time prolong weed control and thus increase weed management efficiency. On the other hand, their increased stability in soil may be of a magnitude that can damage crops in the following crop rotations. Soil properties can have a significant impact on the stability of herbicides in soil. Materials and Methods For this purpose, soil samples were taken from 0-30 cm depth from field of experiment No. 2 in College of Agriculture Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. After sampling and passing through 2 mm sieve, the physical and chemical properties were measured using standard methods. The pot experiment was conducted in a factorial completely randomized design with 32 treatments including soil salinity (at 2.5 and 6 dS / m), Ultimo herbicide rate (at 4 concentration levels of 0, 25, 50 and 100% Recommended dose) and planting time (60 and 120 days after herbicide application) with 3 replication. Wheat was selected as the experimental crop and variety was "Mehregan" which has been cultivated in most of Khozestan province. Herbicide was applied and soil was rested for 60 and 120 days then wheat was sown. For germination percentage, wheat seeds were sown directly in soil after germination test. After germination the percentages were recorded and kept in an equal number of plants in the pot. It should be noted that in order to eliminate the effect of nutrient deficiency on plant growth at appropriate intervals, nutrient solution was applied and irrigated according to the need of the plant.After 9 weeks (before flowering stage) the plant was harvested and the growth components including root length, root dry weight, shoot length, shoot weight and nutrient concentration including nitrogen (in plant dry matter), phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese were measured in the extract obtained from dry digestion of plant tissue (aerial parts of plant). Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software and mean comparisons were performed by Duncan's multiple range test. Charts were drawn using Excel software. Results and Discussion According to the results, increasing the level of herbicide decreased the growth parameters of the plant, which is intensive under salinity stress. The results showed that considering 60 days sowing after herbicide application, shoot dry weight in 100% RD herbicide application in salinity of 2.5 dS/m was 1.6 g which was not showed significant difference with 50% herbicide application under salinity of 6 dS/m. Therefore, in higher salinity levels lower herbicide dose can damage the plant as much as higher levels of herbicides in lower salinity, and lower levels of herbicides in more soil salinity produce more negative effects. By increasing planting time from 60 to 120 days the residual effects of herbicides on soil decreased and plant showed better yield. By increasing salinity level from 2.5 to 6 dS / m, all growth components of wheat decreased, except for shoot length and shoot dry weight, this significant decrease was not reported for other components. Conclusion Therefore, it can be concluded that selection of sowing time after herbicide application in crop rotations is very important and by selecting the correct time can greatly reduce the deleterious effects of consuming more herbicides.Planting wheat at 60 days after application of herbicide compared to 120 days after application of herbicide, decreased the growth components of the plant. Therefore, selection of wheat sowing time in crop rotation 60 days after application of herbicide (especially at 100% recommended dose) is not recommended in maize – wheat cropping system. Also considering soil chemical properties such as salinity as an influencing factor on herbicide behavior in soil can be effective in controlling residual effects of herbicides in soil and plant.
