SPRING BARLEY AND WINTER WHEAT PRODUCTION IN NON-CONVENTIONAL SOIL TILLAGE SYSTEMS

Short-term study of non-conventional soil tillage systems was conducted at the experimental field near Stivica (45 degrees 09' N, 17 degrees 31' E) on hypogley-vertic type of soil and semi humid climate conditions. Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were cultivated on five soil tillage systems. The tillage systems and implements used were: CT - mouldboard plough, disc harrow, multitiller, drill, NcT 1 chisel plough, disc harrow, multitiller, drill, NcT 2 - chisel plough, rotary harrow integrated with seed drill, NcT 3 - mouldboard plough, rotary harrow integrated with seed drill, NcT 4 chisel plough, mouldboard plough, rotary harrow integrated with seed drill. The weather conditions had great influence on production of spring barley, and the occurrence of drought periods during the vegetation season could have affected the yields. The highest average yields were obtained by NcT 2 system in spring barley (3.20 t ha(-1)) and NcT 1 in winter wheat production (8.79 t h(-1)). The greatest energy and labour savings in soil tillage, among the lowest total cost of production were achieved by NcT 2 system in which, consequently, the highest economic efficiency of spring barley (coefficient of 1.81) and winter wheat production (coefficient 2.54) was obtained. Therefore, regarding the choice of tillage systems, assuming uniform level of yields, the advantage should be given to systems with lower level of tillage intensity, not only to reduce costs but also because of the possibility of simpler production organization due to less machine and labour requirement.