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Yield and Yield Components of Four Spring Barley Cultivars Under Three Tillage Systems¹

Soil erosion is a serious problem in the Palouse Region of the Pacific Northwest. A field study was conducted under three environmental conditions [Palouse silt foam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic, Pachic Ultic Hapoxerolls) during 1980 and Athena silt loam (fine-silty, mixed, mesic, Pachic Haploxerolls) during 1979 and 1980] to determine the effects of three tillage systems on grain yield and yield components of four commercial spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars, ‘Steptoe’, ‘Advance’, ‘Vanguard’, and ‘Kimberly’. The experiments were conducted using conventional tillage (fall plow and spring disk), conservation tillage (fall chisel and spring disk), and no-tillage (standing stubble) systems.

Grain yields were not significantly influenced by tillage; however, yields under no-tillage were consistently greater than yields from conventional tillage. Test weight, 100-kernel weight, and percent plump kernels were significantly increased with no-tillage when compared to conventional tillage, but no-tillage barley had significantly fewer heads/m² and reduced plant height than conventional tillage. Tillage practice had no significant effect on seeds per head. Environment significantly influenced all yield and yield components. Significant tillage x environment interactions for test weight, height, and 100-kernel weight did exist. While significant differences in yield and yield components existed among the cultivars examined, no cultivar x tillage interactions were present for any of the parameters examined in this experiment. Results suggest that spring barley cultivars developed and selected under conventional tillage systems are equally adapted to no-tillage systems. Since grain yields were not significantly affected by tillage system under the conditions of this experiment, the use of no-tillage systems for spring barley production should be adapted whenever possible to reduce soil erosion.

Key Words: Hordeum vulgare L. • No-till • Reduced tillage • Direct drilling • Minimum tillage • Conservation tillage

² Research agronomist, USDA, ARS, Pullman, WA 99164.

Received for publication August 10, 1981.