The impact of under-vine management on the weed seedbank in the soil

The evaluation of the weed seedbank in the soil was carried out in 2013 and 2014 in the Žabčice vineyard. Within the frame of maintenance management, three methods of under-vine management were proposed: untreated control, chemical and mechanical method of weed management. 23 plant species were identified in the soil samples from the place below the grapevine. The obtained data were evaluated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Seeds of the species Amaranthus sp., Chenopodium album, Stellaria media, and Portulaca oleracea were the most common in all variants. Soil samples from the variant of mechanical weed management were the richest from the perspective of species. This variant also contained the smallest number of seeds per m2 of soil.O

Production capabilities of catch crops

Within the period of 2011–2014, production capabilities of catch crops were evaluated after two dates of their sowing. The field experiment was established on the field experimental station in Žabčice (South Moravia, Czech Republic). The station is situated in a maize-growing region that is one of the warmest and the driest regions in the Czech Republic. The experiment was performed with the following six species of catch crops: Sinapis alba, Raphanus sativus v. oleifera, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Secale cereale v. multicaule, Malva verticillata and Phalaris canariensis. Catch crops were sown in August and in September, after the harvest of winter wheat. The growth of catch crops was affected by weather conditions. Higher yields were obtained in variants with the first date of sowing. It was concluded that August was the optimum date of their sowing. In this case the plants could maximally manifest their production potential. This concerned above all plants of Phacelia tanacetifolia and those belonging to the family Brassicaceae.Keywords: catch crops, sowing date, yields, weather condition

Yield and soil coverage of catch crops and their impact on the yield of spring barley

The aim of experiment was to evaluate the impact of catch crops on the yield of spring barley. An assessment of the suitability of catch crops in relation to their yield and soil coverage was made. The field experiment was set up in a corn-growing area (south Moravia, Czech Republic). The results show a statistically significant difference in yield of dry matter and soil coverage among catch crops as well as among years. The most appropriate was the cultivation of Phacelia tanacetifolia Bentham and Sinapis alba L., which regularly provided the highest yields and soil coverage. In some years, similar results were also achieved for Fagopyrum esculentum Moench and Carthamus tinctorius L. Less suitable catch crops are Secale cereale var. multicaule L., which ensured lower yield and good soil coverage, but reduced the yield of spring barley, and Panicum miliaceum L. Yield of spring barley was affected by year and species of catch crops. The lowest yield of barely was in the year with unfavourable rainfall. The yield decreased with increasing quantities of catch crop matter. In the case of favourable rainfall year, there was no risk of lower yield of spring barley after monitored catch crops in one of the driest and warmest places in the Czech Republic.O

Comparison of Proximal and Remote Sensing for the Diagnosis of Crop Status in Site-Specific Crop Management

The presented paper deals with the issue of selecting a suitable system for monitoring the winter wheat crop in order to determine its condition as a basis for variable applications of nitrogen fertilizers. In a four-year (2017-2020) field experiment, 1400 ha of winter wheat crop were monitored using the ISARIA on-the-go system and remote sensing using Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite images. The results of spectral measurements of ISARIA vegetation indices (IRMI, IBI) were statistically compared with the values of selected vegetation indices obtained from Sentinel-2 (EVI, GNDVI, NDMI, NDRE, NDVI and NRERI) in order to determine potential hips. Positive correlations were found between the vegetation indices determined by the ISARIA system and indices obtained by multispectral images from Sentinel-2 satellites. The correlations were medium to strong (r = 0.51-0.89). Therefore, it can be stated that both technologies were able to capture a similar trend in the development of vegetation. Furthermore, the influence of climatic conditions on the vegetation indices was analyzed in individual years of the experiment. The values of vegetation indices show significant differences between the individual years. The results of vegetation indices obtained by the analysis of spectral images from Sentinel-2 satellites varied the most. The values of winter wheat yield varied between the individual years. Yield was the highest in 2017 (7.83 t/ha), while the lowest was recorded in 2020 (6.96 t/ha). There was no statistically significant difference between 2018 (7.27 t/ha) and 2019 (7.44 t/ha).O

The Effect of Agronomic Factors on the Yield of Winter Wheat in Crop Rotation with Livestock Production

The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence not only of the year, but also of the three agronomic factors, namely pre-crops, soil tillage, and application of fungicides on the subsequent grain yield of winter wheat. The field trial was carried out at the Field Trial Station in Žabčice (South Moravia, Czech Republic), between 2014 and 2016, as part of a long-term field experiment focused on management of soil with livestock production. Winter wheat was grown after two pre-crops, namely alfalfa and silage maize. The soil was treated using three technologies, namely conventional tillage (CT) – ploughing to a depth of 0.24 m, minimum tillage (MT) – shallow loosening to a depth of 0.15 m, and no-tillage (NT) – direct sowing. In terms of fungicide treatment, two treatments were used and compared to a non-treatment variant. The obtained results suggest that the statistical significance was not found in the influence of the pre-crop. On the contrary, the influence of not only the year but also of the soil tillage technology and fungicide treatment was confirmed. Higher yields by 0.59 t/ha were achieved after shallow loosening and direct sowing as compared with after traditional ploughing and after application of fungicides. In addition, inconclusive influence of interaction between pre-crop and soil tillage as well as between soil tillage and fungicide treatment was also found

Current Arable Farming Systems in the Czech Republic – Agronomic Measures Adapted to Soil Protection and Climate Change

The paper is focused on evaluation various soil tillage systems for maize in terms of productivity and reduction of soil erosion in the Czech Republic. The high slope of land, combined with expanding wide-row crops (when maize had the largest area) increase the risk of water erosion. Assessed yield data are from Southern Moravia in 2011-2016. Investigation of the effects of different soil tillage and silage maize stand establishment on soil and water runoff was carried out in the experimental station Lukavec near Pacov (Bohemian region). Average of six-years results showed that there are no any differences between conventional tillage (10.08 t ha-1) and minimum tillage (10.19 t ha-1), but year is significant. In trial, where different tillage systems were compared with/without phacelia as cover crop, according to three-year average, the highest grain yield was in chisel loosening (8.89 t ha-1) similar to ploughing (8.85 t ha-1). Lower yields were in no-tillage (8.61 t ha-1) and strip-tillage (8.55 t ha-1). Various conservation tillage systems have to be improved and modified for different soil and climate conditions. The benefit is in reduction of soil loss, which depends on crop residues coverage on soil surface. The soil sediment loss was the lowest in no-till variant (30 resp. 38 %) and less in minimum tillage (57 resp. 88 %) in comparison with ploughing (= 100 %). Decrease of soil sediment loss due to sown cover crops (Canary grass or rye) was almost less than 10 % in comparison with variant without cover crop. The results confirm the importance of soil conservation technologies (including strip-tillage) of soil tillage to reduce the risk of land degradation by water erosion

Effect of variety, sowing date and location on yield and nutritional characteristics of sorghum

Sorghum is a forage species important in animal nutrition with an increased potential in the upcoming difficulties in agricultural practices in regard to climate change. Therefore, this paper describes its yield and nutritional parameters depending on growing conditions simulated on two locations (humid and fertile Obora, less fertile and dry Písky), two sowing dates (29. 5. and 25. 6.), and variety (11 varieties). Fresh matter yield was determined by weighing the sample on the field immediately after harvest, Dry matter yield and nutritional content were determined in laboratory by Weende analysis from dried and homogenized samples. Nutritional parameters measured were crude fibre, fat, nitrogen and ash content. Additionally, digestibility of organic as well as dry matter was determined. No significant differences in average fresh matter yield or dry matter yield were found between the two locations and sowing dates in general. There were significant differences among varieties, the highest yields were measured in KWS Zerberus (51.57 +- 3.76 t/ha of fresh matter yield, 15.98 +- 1.34 t/ha of dry matter yield, with higher values observed on Písky). Our data suggest, that sowing date does significantly affect fat content (higher in June sowing). Other nutritional parameters were also higher in sorghum sown in June, with the exception of ash. Nutritional composition of samples did not significantly differ variety to variety, however, there were differences in digestibility of the biomass. Organic matter digestibility was 70.58-85.67%, dry matter digestibility was 73.21-86.70%, with highest digestibility in DMS 45-480. Varieties with the highest importance to farmers in the area are KWS Zerberus, KWS Tarzan and KWS Kallisto (based on dry matter yield), and Triumfo BMR, Sweet Susana and DSM 45-480 (based on digestibility). Sorghum was able to perform well even on dry sandy soil with lower fertilization, which shows the high variability and suitability of sorghum in agricultural practice.O

towards intelligent autonomous sorting of unclassified nuclear wastes

Sorting of old and mixed nuclear waste is an essential process in nuclear decommissioning operations. The main bottleneck is manual picking and separation of the materials using remotely operated arms, which is slow and error prone especially with small items. Automation of the process is therefore desirable. In the framework of the newly funded European project ECHORD++, experiment RadioRoSo, a pilot robotic cell is being developed and validated against industrial requirements on a range of sorting tasks. Industrial robots, custom gripper, vision feedback and new manipulation skills will be developed. This paper presents application context, cell layout and sorting approach

Current Arable Farming Systems in the Czech Republic – Agronomic Measures Adapted to Soil Protection and Climate Change

The paper is focused on evaluation various soil tillage systems for maize in terms of productivity and reduction of soil erosion in the Czech Republic. The high slope of land, combined with expanding wide-row crops (when maize had the largest area) increase the risk of water erosion. Assessed yield data are from Southern Moravia in 2011-2016. Investigation of the effects of different soil tillage and silage maize stand establishment on soil and water runoff was carried out in the experimental station Lukavec near Pacov (Bohemian region). Average of six-years results showed that there are no any differences between conventional tillage (10.08 t ha-1) and minimum tillage (10.19 t ha-1), but year is significant. In trial, where different tillage systems were compared with/without phacelia as cover crop, according to three-year average, the highest grain yield was in chisel loosening (8.89 t ha-1) similar to ploughing (8.85 t ha-1). Lower yields were in no-tillage (8.61 t ha-1) and strip-tillage (8.55 t ha-1). Various conservation tillage systems have to be improved and modified for different soil and climate conditions. The benefit is in reduction of soil loss, which depends on crop residues coverage on soil surface. The soil sediment loss was the lowest in no-till variant (30 resp. 38 %) and less in minimum tillage (57 resp. 88 %) in comparison with ploughing (= 100 %). Decrease of soil sediment loss due to sown cover crops (Canary grass or rye) was almost less than 10 % in comparison with variant without cover crop. The results confirm the importance of soil conservation technologies (including strip-tillage) of soil tillage to reduce the risk of land degradation by water erosion