The research has aimed at determining the influence of applying different systems of presowing tillage and fertilization with straw on the grain yield of cereals in crop rotation, selected indices of canopy architecture: leaf area index (LAI) and mean tip angle (MTA), weight of 1000 grains (WTG) and physical properties of soil. There have been presented the results of field experiments carried out in the years 2000-2002 on the fields of the Experimental Station IUNG in Jelcz-Laskowice on grey-brown podzolic soil formed from loamy sand. The highest yields of the studied cereals were obtained in traditional tillage without fertilization with straw. Leaving straw in form of chaff on the field caused decrease in cereal yields in all the research years. No significant influence of tillage was proved on the weight of 1000 cereal grains. Different tillage systems and fertilization with straw had a significant impact on leaf area index (LAI) in oats and mean tip angle (MTA) of winter wheat. That trait appeared to have been only slightly differentiated by the method of straw fertilization. Mean soil humidity over the research period was highest on the plot with zero-tillage and lowest on that with traditional one. Tested tillage techniques and the methods of fertilization with straw were not found to have exerted any significant influence on the soil density. The mean soil compactness was lowest in traditional tillage, and increased along with progressing shallowness of the arable soil layer.

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