Appearance of spontaneous plants from disturbed and undisturbed soil under mediterranean conditions

Abstract

The reduction of soil disturbance is extremely important for the conservation of soil and thus for the sustainability of agricultural systems. Soil disturbance interferes with a number of soil parameters including its fauna and flora. This paper deals with the comparison of the appearance of spontaneous plants from disturbed and undisturbed soil.

A study was conducted to compare the appearance of spontaneous flora in autumn after the simulation of soil tillage by a tine cultivator with the control of the already emerged plants through the application of a total herbicide and without any soil disturbance. The trials were realized on typical Mediterranean soils (Luvisol) over a period of four years in a completely randomized block design and with eight replications.

The results provide evidence that soil disturbance in autumn before crop establishment to control the spontaneous flora increases significantly the appearance of spontaneous plants under Mediterranean conditions and that this increase is even more pronounced in years with higher accumulated precipitation. This allows the conclusion that production systems based on low soil disturbance and especially no-till are able to decrease the population density of weeds in winter crops.