Conventional seedbed preparation for spring sown crops in Sweden includes 3±4 harrowings followed by sowing, but there is a great interest among farmers to reduce this tillage. Since the soil is normally at ®eld capacity after winter, the conventional system implies a major risk of soil compaction and the farmer has to wait for the soil to dry before seedbed preparation can be started. A new te...

Agronomic research suggests Australian farmers may increase wheat yields by 13 to 47% and reduce risk of crop failures by sowing crops earlier than is currently practiced. This study investigated the potential to use remote sensing to assist in evaluating changes in farmer sowing date practices in response to research recommendations, using study paddocks in the southern Australian cropping reg...

In northern Europe, replacing winter barley with winter wheat as the preceding crop for winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.; WOSR) often results in a delayed WOSR sowing and poor autumn growth. Based on data from a field experiment running in 2009/2010, 2010/2011, and 2012/2013, this study aims (i) to investigate how a delayed sowing method affects seed yield, N offtake with the seeds, and a...

During the past decades, agro-biodiversity has markedly declined and some species are close to extinction in large parts of Europe. Reintroduction of rare arable plant species in suitable habitats could counteract this negative trend. The study investigates optimal sowing rates of three endangered species (Legousia speculum-veneris (L.) Chaix, Consolida regalis Gray, and Lithospermum arvense L....

We examined the effects of the sowing time on the yield production and oil content of the sunflower hybrids in 2010 and 2012. The crop year and the sowing time had both a strong impact on the yield, on the oilcontent and yield. By delaying the sowing time both the yield crop result and the oil yield increased. In 2010 in terms of crop yield and oil yield results PR64H42 was the best, in 2012 NK...

The experiment was conducted involving 35 rabi sorghum genotypes sown at six different dates of sowing (from Sept I week to October IV week) during 2006-07 to assess the stability for pollen fertility (%), seed setting (%) and other productivity traits viz., plant height, days to 50% flowering, number of leaves, length of panicle, panicle weight, panicle diameter, number of primaries/panicle an...

Studies on the function of root traits and the genetic variation in these traits are often conducted under controlled conditions using individual potted plants. Little is known about root growth under field conditions and how root traits are affected by agronomic practices in particular sowing density. We hypothesized that with increasing sowing density, root length density (root length per soi...

In the Mediterranean zone, efforts to optimize combinations of supplemental irrigation (SI ), improved varieties, nitrogen (N ) and sowing dates aim to improve and stabilize cereal yields and maintain quality, especially for durum wheat. Thus, a 4 year field study (1992/1993 to 1995/1996) on a deep clay soil in northern Syria assessed the impact of SI (rain-fed, 1/3, 2/3 and full SI ) combined ...