Mineral Uptake, Total Polyphenols and Total Flavonoids of Barley as Affected by Tillage Practices under Semi-Arid Conditions

Aims: Conservation agriculture has been recommended as an option to mitigate climate change impact when practicing conventional, to ensure sustainability and food security This study examined the effect of conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) on mineral elements uptake, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of barley.

Study Design: Split-plot design was applied for this study.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted in ESAK station (Boulifa, kef, North West Tunisia) during 2016/2017 cultivation year.

Methodology: Mineral elements uptake, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of barley were studied as affected by conventional tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT) for tillering and grain filling stages.

Results: The results showed that tillage practices (T) had no significant effect on mineral uptake, total phenolic content and total flavonoids content under rainfed conditions. The stage (S) had showed significant effects on P, Ca and Na amounts for both tillage practices when it had no effect on K amount. The interaction T x S had no significant effect on mineral elements concentrations and TFC. However, this interaction had affected TPC significantly. Phosphorous (P) showed high significant positive correlations with Ca and Na. In addition, P presented high significant negative correlations with TPC and TFC. For partial correlation based on Tillage practices, similar correlations values were noted. Considering the partial correlation based on plant stages, no significant correlations had been noted.

Conclusion: This work enlarges our knowledge on barley mineral elements uptake, TPC and TFC as influenced by tillage practices aiding decision makers in increasing no tillage adoption in Tunisia under rainfed conditions.