The influence of tillage system on diversities of soil weed seed bank

Abstract

Field experiments with different soil tillage systems were conducted in 2003-2006 at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture. Investigations to evaluate effects of soil tillage regime on weed seed bank and distribution in the soil layers were made after four years of experimentation. A total of 17 weed species were found in the soil seed bank; 98 % - annual dicotyledonous. The most abundant weed species in the seed bank were Chenopodium album, Lamium purpureum and Stellaria media. The highest number of weed seed species was found in treatments with reduced and no-tillage treatments in a soil layer of 0-5cm. In deeper soil layers, 5-10, 10-20, no differences in species number of weed seeds were found.