Tillage method and triticale weed infestation and yielding

The studies were carried out on the Experimental Farm at Zawady (Poland) in the years 1999-02. A field experiment followed the field method without replications. In case of both winter and spring triticale the post-harvest tillage was applied: 1) skimming - 12 cm, 2) cultivating, 3) disking, 4) without tillage (Roundup 360 SL), 5) without tillage, 6) ploughing - 20 cm, 7) disking. The first five objects were treated with the pre-sowing ploughing (winter triticale) or autumn ploughing (spring triticale). As for both forms of triticale (winter and spring), only abandoning ploughing resulted in a significant, over 30 percent, grain yield decrease. Simplified tillage generally increased the weed infestation. However, a significant increase in the fresh and dry matter of weeds was observed only in objects exposed to extreme simplifications. A clearly lower yielding was recorded in case of objects most infested with weeds, especially in spring triticale