Effects of minimum tillage and no-tillage patterns on flag leaf senescence after anthesis and yield of winter wheat

There is obvious influence of the physiological activity of flag leaf after anthesis on the yields of winter wheat. In order to research the effects of minimum tillage and no-tillage patterns on yield and senescence of flag leaf of winter wheat, four tillage patterns were adopted in Longkou city, Shandong Province, China for three years. Four tillage patterns were as follows: conventional tillage with straw turnover (CS), rotary tillage with straw turnover (RS), serrated disk harrow tillage with straw turnover (HS), no-tillage with straw cover (NC). Effects of different tillage patterns on the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and soluble protein of the winter wheat flag leaves after anthesis were analyzed. Results show that the automatic regulating ability of the active oxygen scavenging system of RS and HS patterns are stronger than that of CS. The activities range of SOD and POD of RS and HS patterns are stable. The content of MDA at dough stage under NC pattern is lower than that under other patterns, while the content of soluble protein under NC pattern is higher than that under other patterns, which represents the characteristics of delayed maturity. There is no significant difference between the yield of RS, HS and CS and the yield of NC is significantly lower than that of other tillage patterns. The researches show that RS and HS can be adopted in this region in short period within three years, while NC pattern is not suitable.