Effets des résidus et du non-labour sur le comportement de la céréale sous conditions semi-arides des hautes plaines orientales

Abstract

The experiment was conductedat the Agricultural Experimental Station of the Field Crop Institute of Setif during the 2010/11 cropping season. The objective was to evaluate the performance of durum wheat (Triticum durumDesf.) cultivar Boussalem under no till and moldboard plow. Four treatments were investigated: sowing after conventional tillage and direct drilling with 0, 30 and 60% residues. Humidity storage in plowed and chemical fallows was determined in parallel. The results indicated that direct drilling improved crop establishment,yield, yield components, accumulated biomass, straw yield which were significantly higher under no till compared to conventional tillage. No significant differences appeared between the two systems and between crop residue rates for soil humidity trend of the 40 cm. By the end of the crop cycle, soil humidity reached the wilting point for both tillage treatments. Part of the humidity transpiredby the crop was relatively higher under residue cover. This resulted in higher water use efficiency for grain and biomass.However soil humidity stored in tilled fallow was higher than the one stored in the chemical fallow, during the crop cycle, and in the 40 cm soil profile. By the end of the crop cycle most of the stored soil humidity was lost through evaporation. The results of this study suggested that no till could be a viable alternative for intensifying durum wheat production under semi-arid conditions of the eastern high plains.