Effect of Fine Soil Particles, Tillage Systems and Polyacrylamide on Wheat Production and Some Soil Chemical Properties in Arid Regions

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Agriculture Research Station of King Abdulaziz University to study the effects of fine soil particles, tillage system and polyacrylamide on wheat production and some soil chemical properties. The design of the experiment was a split-split plot with four replications. The main plot included two soils A and B, (A with 25.2 % silt+ clay while B with 38.5 % silt+ clay). Sub plot included three tillage systems namely: No-tillage (NT), Moldboard ploughing with rotor tiller (CT1) and Chisel ploughing with disk harrow (CT2). The sub-sub plot included three polyacrylamide (PAM) rates and were 0, 10 and 20 kg/ha. The obtained results indicated that soil of location B was better than the soil A because wheat production in location B was significantly higher than that of location A. CT2 produced the highest grain yield for wheat crop followed by NT and CT1 tillage systems respectively. Application of different rates of PAM (10 and 20 kg/ha) increased yield production compared with 0 kg/ha. Soil nutrients including N, P and K were significantly increased in the soil of location B compared to location A. The nutrients also increased by increasing PAM rates in both locations.