Treatment of post harvest residues with cellulose decomposing preparations I. Effect on grain yield from wheat

Abstract. During 2010 – 2013 an experiment was carried out in the trial field of Dobrudzha Agricultural Institute with the aim to find out what is the effect of stubble cellulose decomposition products (microbial-based or other) on the grain yield from winter wheat. The crop was grown in a stationary field trial in crop rotation with three spring crops – bean, maize and sunflower. Three cellulose decomposition products, Bactofil С, Nutri-Life Accelerate (NLA) and Amalgerol premium were tested against the background of plots without mineral fertilizers treatment. The post harvest residue was chopped with the equipment of the harvester combine to suitable pieces and evenly spread on the soil surface. The above cellulose decomposition products were applied by sprinkling the area of the stubble in autumn, one month before sowing of wheat. The norm of the working solution was 400 l/ha, and the doses of the respective products were according to the recommendations of the manufacturers. Immediately after sprinkling the post harvest residue from the previous crops, it was incorporated in soil using disking soil tillage machines. On the basis of the averaged 4-year results, the following conclusions were drawn: the cellulose decomposition products Bactopfil C and NLA had well expressed positive effect on grain yield (relatively expressed, the increase varied from 7.0 to 18.0%); the structural components of yield and 1000 grain weight; the conditions of application of the cellulose decomposition products; the initial soil moisture and the moisture of the plant residues themselves in particular, were very important for the efficiency of the preparations; the nature of the tested cellulose decomposers makes them suitable for organic agriculture where the short-term immobilization of nutrients (especially the nitrogen-containing ones) is a common and typical process