DIFFERENT TILLAGE METHODS EFFECT ON BEANS SOIL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Demand for protein crops is greater than supply in European Union (EU) and in Lithuania. Greater beans (Vicia faba) production would be beneficial economically and would enhance soil fertility. However, it is not well researched which tillage methods help beans the most in enhancing soil fertility. Therefore, different tillage methods: deep ploughing, shallow ploughing, deep tillage, shallow tillage and direct drilling were investigated. The results show that mineral nitrogen content did not differ significantly depending on tillage method, but bacteria and microscopic fungi numbers varied significantly. To be more specific, shallow tillage and direct drilling increased bacteria and microscopic fungi numbers the most. However, in directly drilled plots beans germinated significantly poorer. On the contrary to other research in deeply ploughed plots bacteria and microscopic fungi numbers where higher compared to deep tillage and shallow ploughing. It is possible that these findings resulted from soil aeration and damage to the hyphae during tillage as well as from tillage and seeding machinery choice. All in all, shallow tillage appears to be the best compromise choosing tillage method for bean crop considering its impact on soil fertility enhancement.