Draft

Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been widely adopted over the world due to its beneficial effects on soil quality, costs and crop performance. Determining whether specific breeding strategies for CA are necessary is nowadays difficult because, among other reasons, data on genotype by cropping systems interactions are scarce. An experiment was established near Ciudad Obregón (27.3º N, México) in 2006 to determine if bread (Triticum aestivum L.) and durum (Triticum durum Desf.) wheat genotypes (G) interact with agronomic management practices (S) determined by management differences in irrigation and tillage. Wheat was cropped for five seasons using raised bed systems where the soil was raised in a ridge-and-furrow configuration. Full or reduced irrigation regimes were applied to conventionally tilled beds and permanent raised beds with residue retention (i.e. permanent beds). Therefore, four different combinations of agronomic management were established. Grain yield and grain yield stability of twelve bread wheat and seven durum wheat varieties were evaluated. Grain yield ranged from 1.3 to 8.9 t ha-1. Crop performance was similar with permanent beds and conventionally tilled beds under full irrigation whereas under reduced irrigation grain yields tended to be higher with permanent beds as compared to conventionally tilled beds. The performance of wheat genotypes was significantly affected by G x S interactions that indicated only differences in the magnitude of the effects. However, for bread wheat there were no consistent changes in the ranking of the genotypes across management practices. This was similar for durum wheat except under permanent beds with reduced irrigation where a genotype that tended to have the highest grain yields had intermediate grain yields with the other management practices.

Conservation Agriculture Program|Genetic Resources Program

Text in English

INT3239|INT2813|INT3224|INT3307|CSAY01

CIMMYT Staff Publications Collection