Comparison of conservation tillage systems in barley-based cropping systems in northern Syria

Yields of rainfed barley (Hordeum vulgare) for feed and forage in small-rum inant production systems in low-rainfall areas of North Africa and West Asi a are limited by low and erratic water availability. Therefore, the testing of conservation farming techniques, effective in dryland systems elsewhere , is often suggested. Seven-pear results from a typical site in northern Sy ria showed that zero-till (direct-drill) systems with cereal residue retent ion may marginally enhance soil moisture status, but the yield effect on ba rley, either monocropped or rotated with vetch (Vicia sativa), was small an d non-significant. Tn the vetch-barley rotation, a small and fairly consist ent benefit to vetch was observed, amounting to a 20% yield increase in vet ch hay. Given smallholders' strong preference for barley and reluctance to grow vetch as an alternate crop, there is little in this result to encourag e the promotion of zero-till conservation techniques in these farming syste ms.