EFFECT OF SEASONAL TILLAGE ON SOME SOIL PROPERTIES, ENERGY PARAMETERS AND PRODUCTIVITY UNDER RECLAIMED SOIL

Khater, M. M. I.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2016.97585

EFFECT OF SEASONAL TILLAGE ON SOME SOIL PROPERTIES, ENERGY PARAMETERS AND PRODUCTIVITY UNDER RECLAIMED SOIL

Document Type : Original Article

Author

M. M. I. Khater

Soil Conservation Department, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2016.97585

Abstract

This study was focusing on energy parameters for tillage conditions of New El Salhia region, where dryland conditions were occurred. Soil texture was sandy loam. The methodology used in the calculation of consumed energy was divided into inputs and outputs to identify the energy ratio. Data from field experiment were used to determine some soil physical properties, energy indices and yield of wheat and corn as affected by tillage treatments. Tillage treatments included conventional system (chiselhing twice and harrowing), Minimum tillage (chiselling) and another minimum tillage system (harrowing). The soil bulk density and moisture content was determined for two depth until 30 cm. From the above mentioned it can be concluded that the minimum tillage using chisel plow might be necessary to conserve the moisture content and improve soil structure which consequently gave profitable yield from the energy point of view. The results showed that the conventional tillage treatments had the highest grain and biomass yield while harrowing treatments had the lowest values. The conventional tillage treatments gave the most net energy gain of (52.34 and 163.85 GJ) meanwhile the harrowing treatments gave the least ones (47.46 and 156.61 GJ) for wheat and corn respectively. The latter results mean that conventional tillage treatments were recommended for dryland farming of wheat and corn in El Salhia region. These results also will be helpful in developing a comprehensive database on the energy parameters of tillage implements for Egyptian agricultural machinery management.

Keywords

References

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