Effects of tillage systems and crop rotation on weed density, weed species composition and weed biomass in maize.

The field study was conducted over seven years in south-western Slovakia to investigate the effects of different soil tillage intensities and crop rotation on weed density, weed diversity and weed dry biomass in maize. Three basic tillage treatments were the following: mouldboard ploughing to a depth of 0.30 m (conventional tillage); offset disc ploughing to a depth of 0.15 m followed by combined cultivator; twice shallow loosening to a depth of 0.10 m (both reduced tillage). Annual broadleaf weeds (17 species) were clearly the dominant weed group under all soil tillage treatments, compared to perennial weeds (6 species) and annual grassy weeds (4 species). Dominant weed species were Amaranthus retroflexus and A. powelli, Chenopodium album, Echinochloa crus-galli, Convolvulus arvensis and Cirsium arvense. The number of species of the annual broadleaf and grassy weeds group was insignificant in conventional tillage and reduced tillage systems. Total weed density was significantly lower under the conventional tillage than the other reduced tillage systems. The main benefit of conventional tillage is a highly significant decline of perennial weeds. Only 2.6 perennial weed plants per quadrant in conventional tillage as compared to 7.5-9.0 in reduced tillage treatments were noted. Significantly less weed dry biomass was found in conventional treatment under mouldboard ploughing as compared to reduced tillage. Crop rotation did not have a significant influence on variability of species richness expressed according to Margalef's index in maize. Tillage system was more influential than crop rotations on the weed density and diversity and weed biomass.