The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in farmers' fields under No-till farming compared to conventional farming with two management practices: 'Research recommended' vs 'Local farmers' practices. The study was conducted over a period of three cropping seasons in the Chaouia plain in Western Morocco, a Mediterranean semi-arid area with low rainfall. Trials were set up in a split-plot design with two factors: (1) management method (No-till vs. Conventional), and (2) practices (research recommended vs. Farmers' local practices), with four replications and were carried out at four farmers' fields (sites). Data collected included: stand density, canopy height, average number of tillers per plant, number of spikes per plant, biological yield, grain yield and harvest index. The results obtained show a significant effect of climatic years on the measured parameters. No-till system significantly improved yield components, canopy height, biological yield, and grain yield, particularly in dry years. No-till as practiced by farmers (C2) improved biological and grain yields, respectively, by 18 and 42% compared with farmers’ current local practices (C1). These gains were, respectively, 83% and 142%, for the research recommended package under No-till, those of the research recommended package under conventional management (without direct seeding), were 61% and 81% for the biological and the grain yields, respectively. The harvest index increased from 27% under the current conventional farmers’ local management (C1), to 31% with the research recommended package under the same management mode. Under No-till management, this index increased to 33% with local practices (C2) and 36% with the research recommended packages. No-till system can be a adaptative and resilient practice for wheat cultivation in the low rain fall semi-arid areas impacted by climate change, but farmers should consider the adoption of the whole No-till system, rather than limiting themselves solely to the zero-till seeder technique.
Sustainable management of agricultural practices can improve soil organic status, soil quality (SQ), and yields. The study was conducted to test the impact of tillage (conventional (CT) and no-till (NT)), residues (vetch (C1) and uncover soil (C0)), and three nitrogen (N) fertilization rates (30, 60, and 90 N kg ha-1) on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N), C/N ratio, soft wheat yields and SQ. The experiment was established in 2010 in the Moroccan semi-arid. After ten years, the SOC concentration was greater under NT (9.4 g/kg) compared to CT (8.4 g/kg). Crop residues also enhanced SOC (10 g/kg) contrary to C0 (8.1 g/kg). Application of N fertilization showed profound effects on total N, increasing levels of N fertilization led to higher total N irrespective of tillage. Crop residues increased total N (0.6 g/kg) better than C0 plots at the horizon 20–40 cm. Soft wheat revealed an improvement under NT (4213.8 kg ha-1) versus CT (3785.6 kg ha-1) and it responded positively to the N application. For SQ evaluation through the indexing methods (SQI), principal component analysis was done for eight soil indicators to select the minimum data set (MDS), which were subsequently normalized and integrated into the SQI, additive (SQIANL), and weighted (SQIWNLM). NT revealed higher scores (0.52; 0.6) than the CT (0.46; 0.53) for SQIANL and SQIWNL, respectively, at the horizon 0–20 cm. the residues layer on the soil surface improved SQIWNL score (0.59) compared to C0 (0.55). Moreover, the correlation (r) with yield and the sensitivity (S), allowed us to choose SQIWNL, as the best index (highest r and S) to evaluate SQ under different practices studied. Indeed, SQIWNL revealed an intermediate SQ under NT and at C1 treatments, compared to CT and C0 (low SQ).
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