Winter crops: sowing, tillage, causes of death

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Winter crops with intensive agricultural cultivation can yield up to 60-80 c/ha. To achieve such results, it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing soil preparation without disturbing the technology, observe the sowing dates, use the optimal sowing method for a particular farm, and ensure good care of the plants during the growth and maturation period. Then the death of winter crops can be reduced to a minimum.

The concept of winter and spring crops

Winter crops are annual plants of cereals, more often cereal families. Such plants in the course of their life require overwintering for a period of several months. It is necessary to sow winter crops in the fall, and after winter they harvest. Such plants include winter varieties of wheat, barley and rye.

In addition to winter crops, there are spring breads. Unlike winter crops, spring crops must be sown in the spring, the crop is harvested in the year of sowing. These annuals require highertemperatures and spring warming sun. These crops include spring wheat, barley, rye, oats and many other millet varieties.

Advantages of winter crops

Spring and winter crops are widely used in agriculture, varieties of these plants are used for animal feed, flour milling and further consumption by the population.

However, winter forms of plants are valued much more, because. have many biological benefits:

1. Winter crop is able to accumulate more useful mass, develops a powerful root system during the wintering period.
2. After the endured winter, the plants grow rapidly. They take root much earlier and as a result ripen earlier.
3. Weeds are not a hindrance to winter crops: they successfully overtake them in growth and development and simply drown them out with their mass.

Besides, autumn sowing and early harvesting can relieve the tension of agricultural work.

Proper sowing time improves winter crop hardiness

Winter crops have high frost resistance and winter hardiness. Winter hardiness ensures that the plant adapts to winter conditions. Usually this property directly depends on the variety of the cultivated crop. However, much depends on the human factor: it is important to properly prepare plants for winter and use high-quality agricultural technology. Winter hardiness is achieved by hardening, which takes place in two stages. The first stage takes place in autumnwarm temperatures in 8-15 degrees. The second stage is the end of the autumn period, these are mild frosts with a drop in temperature to 5 degrees.

The first phase is responsible for the increased accumulation of carbohydrates in plants. At the end of the first period, various sugars are contained in the culture 2-3 times more than at the beginning of the period. The plant will use carbohydrates in the spring, which will help enhanced growth and development. In addition, sugars perform an important protective function.

During the second phase, plant tissues are dehydrated, the composition of plant cells changes. The brush juice also undergoes changes, which helps to achieve frost resistance of plants. At the first frosts up to 5 degrees, plant cells make up simple substances, osmosis inside the cells increases. The culture retains more water and increases its sucking power of the roots. By the time the second stage of hardening is completed, the necessary conditions for supercooling appear in the cells of winter crops. Complex compounds are broken down into simpler substances.

Sowing winter crops depends on the climatic features of a particular region. In the northern regions, sowing is done in August, in the south - in September or October. The main principle is to allow the plants to strengthen the root system for overwintering and safely go through the hardening phases. Do not rush to sow: the plants will be more exposed to various diseases and bacteria. However, with late sowing, winter crops do not have time to develop a powerful root system and prepare for wintering before the onset of frost. It was found that for normal developmentand rooting crops need about 45-60 days with an air temperature of less than 5 degrees Celsius.

Wheat should be planted much earlier than rye. This is due to the fact that rye still continues its development after sowing, while wheat has already stopped it.

Methods of sowing winter crops

There are several ways to sow winter crops. Basically, you need to adhere to this rule: it is necessary to ensure an even distribution of seeds over the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe field. Scattered sowing of winter crops creates the most favorable conditions for the maturation of each of the plants. For this method of sowing, a special device has been created - a seeder. However, this method significantly slows down the process of industrial sowing, which causes its least use in mass crops.

Row sowing of winter crops can be divided into several types depending on the width between the rows:

• regular (width between rows 15-18 cm);
• narrow row (width between rows 7.5-9 cm);
• cross (passage of the seeder up and down);
• wide-row (width between rows 45-90 cm);
• tape (alternating wide and narrow rows);
• dotted (uniform single seed arrangement).

There is also a square-nest type of sowing, in which the seeds are placed at the corners of the square.

In production, conventional solid seeding is usually used, but narrow row sowing is considered a better option. Due to soil compaction from the passage of tractors across the fieldbegan to practice sowing with a residual width for technological processes. The size of such a track is 180 or 140 cm. This technique does not harm the crop and does not injure the soil, which improves the conditions for growing winter crops.

Seedbed preparation after fallow crops

Tillage for winter crops is carried out according to the autumn tillage method. This type provides for plowing and 1-2 peeling in the autumn. Plowing of the field should be carried out to a depth of at least 20-22 cm. Spring work for winter crops should begin with the closing of moisture. During this period, it is desirable to carry out about 4-5 cultivations with harrowing or in dry time with packing. Final cultivation should take place at seeding depth.

Winter crops require special soil preparation: plowing with plows and skimmers with harrows and ring rollers. After carrying out such work, the soil must be kept clean and loosened before sowing winter crops. This type of pre-sowing tillage is carried out after fallow predecessors.

Seedbed preparation after non-fallow crops

It is necessary to cultivate the soil after non-steam plants in accordance with the technologies for growing previous crops. After spike species, it is customary to use semi-fallow cultivation of the soil, if soil moisture conditions are met. Works should include about 2-3 cultivations. On dry soils, preliminary peeling is carried out, and then plowed several timesfield with harrowing and packing. After harvesting perennials, it is necessary to plow with a plow with a skimmer if the soil moisture is at a sufficient level.

If the field has previously grown peas, flax or other cereal crops, it is necessary to plow, and before sowing, cultivate in the same way as usual.

Minimum tillage method

There is a method of minimum tillage for winter crops. In this case, the soil is processed at the lowest possible depth while performing other operations. This type of processing allows you to reduce the time and energy costs for processing, as well as reduce the number of passes of equipment across the field. This greatly improves the agrochemical and water-physical indicators of the soil.

For this type of processing, special combined machines with disk or flat-cut parts are used. Such devices are capable of loosening, leveling, and compacting the soil in one pass.

What can cause the death of winter crops?

The causes of death of winter crops are very different. Both natural conditions and mechanical damage can affect the vital activity of plants. Natural conditions are determined by sharp temperature changes, a large amount of precipitation, severe and long frosts, stagnation of moisture and water on the soil surface. In addition, the winter crop may be susceptible to fungal diseases.

Freezing. How to prevent?

The most common cause of deathwinter crops - freezing. Due to prolonged low temperatures, ice forms in plant cells. As a result, the cytoplasm of the cell remains without water, and the protein is destroyed. The formation of ice inside the cells has a detrimental effect on the vital activity of plants. Spring frosts are especially dangerous, because. winter plant species cannot withstand temperatures as low as 8-10 degrees during this period.

To prevent the death of winter crops due to their freezing, it is necessary to sow only frost-resistant varieties adapted to a particular sowing region, or to plant using windbreaks.

Damping out. How to prevent?

Another common cause of death of winter crops is damping off. This happens if the snow on the soil surface does not melt for a long time, as well as when the soil is not completely frozen. In conditions of incomplete freezing of the soil or the formation of an ice crust on the surface, winter plants come to life under the influence of light, but sunlight cannot break through the ice crust. When damped, winter plants die from lack of light under the snow. In addition, weakened by a lack of nutrients, plants become sick with snow mold.

So that the plants do not suffer from decay, the soil should be compacted with rollers if early snow has fallen. Nitrogen fertilizers and early crops should be avoided. In case of heavy precipitation, it is necessary to accelerate the melting process by loosening the snow.

Washing out. Fighting methods

Washing out as another reasonplant death usually occurs in lowlands on clay soils or in places where water often accumulates. Plants die due to a violation of the processes of respiration: carbohydrates are excessively spent to maintain life. After 2 weeks in such conditions, the plants finally die. To avoid the harmful effects of excess water, plant flood-resistant varieties and evacuate accumulated moisture whenever possible.

Often, plants die due to the formation of ice crusts. The most dangerous for plant life is a transparent peel. It is formed during a thaw, when melt water freezes when the temperature drops. Ice can form both on the surface of the soil and deep in it. The plants are trapped in ice. In order for the formed ice crust not to harm the plants, it is necessary to destroy it in parts or completely.

To save dehydrated plants and avoid other serious problems for crop growth, it is necessary to work the soil in a timely manner, as well as use spring rolling.

Death of winter crops from diseases and pests

To prevent the death of winter crops from diseases or the invasion of pests, the following measures are required in a timely manner:

• avoid soaking and dampening processes;
• treat seeds before planting;
• carry out preventive treatment of crops with minimum concentration pesticides;
• Random inspections of crops to monitor crop he alth;
• if availabledamage to crops by pests or diseases to assess the risk of spread of damage and loss of crops;
• depending on the degree of risk, treat crops with pesticides of the required concentration.

Results

Spring and winter crops should be grown using intensive technologies. A competent, scientifically based approach to growing grain will allow you to get high yields with maximum profitability.