Summary of the effects of three tillage and three traffic systems on cereal yields over a four-year rotation

Abstract.

This paper reports the design and results of a study to consider the effects of deep, shallow and zero tillage with random conventional and low tyre inflation pressures and controlled traffic systems on the yield of winter wheat, winter barley (x2) and spring oats. The results show that crop yields for zero tillage were significantly less (P<0.001) than deep and shallow tillage for all crops with an overall reduction of 1.0 t/ha below the mean of the deep and shallow tillage practices. Controlled traffic farming with a 30% trafficked area produced significantly higher yields than random conventional pressure traffic for the winter wheat and spring oats. Controlled traffic farming, with trafficked areas of 30% and 15% showed overall benefits over random conventional inflation pressure traffic of 0.32 t ha^-1 (£41 ($51) ha^-1) and 0.61 t ha^-1 (£77 ($96) ha^-1) respectively, requiring breakeven areas of 312 ha and 168 ha to cover the costs of 3 vehicle guidance/auto-steering systems.