Generally, we can divide tillage into two major branches. The first option, which is also the most common, is the conventional tillage. This type uses plough as the fundamental tool. The field, which has been ploughed, is not yet suitable for sowing and consequently, an additional processing operation is required. A cultivator or a rotary harrow is used in order to prepare the field. It is true that this tillage option has a very high success rate and is very useful but it does demand a lot of time for all the necessary works. On the other hand, minimum tillage is emerging as an increasingly common alternative. In this case, the field is cultivated by the means of surface treatment. The plant remains are only mixed in the upper layer of the field surface. For this procedure, we normally utilize circular harrows. Circular harrows allow us to mix the upper layer of the field surface and subsequently crumble it into smaller clods, which eventually enables us to prepare the surface for the new sowing. Our experiment, which was conducted on the Sorško polje, proved that the minimum tillage is appropriate for producing corn. There was no difference between the types of tillage when taking into consideration both the number of corncobs per plant and the size of plant. The largest difference occurred in the number of plants per hectare, which is later reflected in the fresh mass production. By using the minimum tillage, we produced 63,877 kg/ha of corn fresh mass while the conventional tillage yielded about 2,500 kg more. However, the minimum tillage required less time and fuel.
|
