Quantifying Cereal Productivity on Sandy Soil in Response to Some Soil-Improving Cropping Systems

Little information is available on the effect of soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) on crop productivity on low fertility sandy soils although they are increasingly being used in agriculture in many regions of the world due to the growing demand for food. The study aimed at quantifying the effect of four soil-improving cropping systems applied on sandy soil on cereal productivity (yield of grain and straw and plant height) in a 4-year field experiment conducted in Poland with spring cereal crops: oat (2017), wheat (2018), wheat (2019), and oat (2020). The experiment included the control (C) and the following SICS: liming (L), leguminous catch crops for green manure (LU), farmyard manure (M), and farmyard manure + liming + leguminous catch crops for green manure together (M + L + LU). To quantify the effect of the SICS, classic statistics and the Bland–Altman method were used. It was shown that all yield trait components significantly increased in the last study year (2020) under SICS with M and M + L + LU. All yield trait components were significantly lower in the dry years (2018–2019) than in the wet years (2017 and 2020). The relatively large rainfall quantity in May during intensive growth at shooting and the scarce precipitation during later growth in the dry year 2019 resulted in a significantly greater straw yield compared to the other dry year 2018. The values of Bland–Altman bias (mean difference between the particular SICS and the control) varied (in kg m−2) from −0.002 for LU in 2019 to 0.128 for M and 0.132 for M + L + LU in 2020. The highest limits of agreement (LoA) were in general noted for all yield trait components (the least even yield) in the most productive SICS including M and M + L + LU in the wet year 2020. The Bland–Altman ratio (BAR) values indicate that quantification of the effects of all soil-improving practices was most uncertain in the dry year 2018 for the grain yield and in the wet year 2020 for the straw yield and much less uncertain for the plant height in all SICS and study years. The results of this study provide helpful information about the effect of the SICS on the different yield trait components depending on the period of their application and weather conditions prevailing during the growing season.