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Abstract

Among the various agricultural operations, tillage alone accounts for 60% of the energy consumed in agriculture. Other concerns, such as soil compaction, time management, economic issues, porosity reduction, moisture storage capacity, as well as a 25% increase in water and wind erosion, has further fueled efforts to improve tillage methods. In this regard, conservation tillage is more considered by experts. This study was conducted to evaluate important indices of wheat production in different tillage methods. Two plots located in Moghan Agro Co. were selected and were divided into four equal 2.8 hectares. Experiments were performed in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four tillage systems including conventional, tillage1, tillage2 and direct tillage in which two common wheat cultivars were planted. The results implied that the effect of all four tillage methods was significant at the probability level of 0.001 and the indices such as fuel consumption, efficiency, the number of traffic on farm, land preparation time and its cost per hectare, crop yield, plant density and tiller number were improved using the no-tillage and low tillage2 methods. The results were also re-evaluated using TOPSIS method and the tillage system with CL of 0.98 was selected as the best method. Therefore, direct cultivation can be an appropriate alternative to conventional tillage in sustainable wheat production

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