Barley Is Sown at Night Too – What Is This Unusual Experiment Trying to Achieve?

Ugnius Ginelevičius | Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy

Sowing barley at night may sound unusual, but the idea itself is not new in agricultural research. In this experiment, it is combined with three other approaches: reduced tillage intensity, broadcast sowing, and undersowing. These measures have been known and studied for many years, but experience with applying them separately does not yet answer one important question: can combining them into a single cropping system achieve even greater benefits?

Barley sowing during the dark hours Soil measurement equipment at night

Fig. 1–2. Spring barley sowing and research conducted during the dark hours

This question is being addressed in a spring barley experiment conducted at the Experimental Station of the Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University. The experiment combines different tillage intensities, sowing during daylight and darkness, narrow-row and broadcast sowing methods, and undersowing with vetch and buckwheat. The aim is to determine how these measures work together, whether their combinations enhance the expected benefits, and what trade-offs emerge when yield, soil condition, and production costs are considered.

Four Measures – Four Objectives

Tillage. Reducing tillage intensity is intended to minimise soil disturbance, preserve soil structure, and reduce labour and fuel consumption. For farms facing labour shortages, the ability to complete field operations more quickly can be particularly valuable. At the same time, geopolitical events and disruptions in energy supplies are a reminder of how strongly production costs depend on oil markets.

Time of sowing. It has long been established that germination of some weed seeds can be stimulated by even a brief exposure to light. When soil is disturbed during the day, seeds present in the soil may be briefly exposed to light and receive a signal to germinate. Therefore, night-time sowing is intended to reduce weed infestation in the crop. However, the situation is not as simple as it may seem. The effect of this measure depends on the species composition of weeds and their genetic characteristics, which can differ between regions. Therefore, it is important to determine how useful night-time sowing can be under Lithuanian conditions.

Sowing method. Broadcast sowing is intended to make better use of the available growing space and simplify the sowing operation. With this method, seeds are distributed across the entire sown area rather than placed in conventional rows. The aim is to enable barley to cover the soil surface more quickly and evenly, compete more effectively with weeds, and reduce the need for specialised sowing equipment.

Undersowing. Undersowing with vetch and buckwheat is intended to provide additional soil cover, suppress weeds, and produce more biomass, which could subsequently contribute to the accumulation of organic matter in the soil. In this mixture, the two plants have different roles. Vetch, with the help of bacteria living in nodules on its roots, can fix atmospheric nitrogen. This is intended to supplement the cropping system with biologically fixed nitrogen and, in the longer term, reduce the need for mineral nitrogen fertilisers. Buckwheat was selected because of its rapid growth and ability to quickly cover the soil surface, thereby limiting the light and growing space available to weeds. It may also contribute to the mobilisation of less readily available soil nutrients, particularly phosphorus.

Experimental information stand and crop Comparison of ploughed soil plots: sown during the day on the left and at night on the right. AI-edited image.

Fig. 3–4. Experimental information stand and comparison of plots sown during the day (left) and at night (right)

Findings and Insights

Five days – that is how much earlier the night-sown barley emerged in the ploughed plots compared with the barley sown during the day. One possible explanation lies in soil temperature: at night, the soil was about 8 °C cooler, which may have allowed the moisture required for seed germination to remain available for longer.

Interestingly, the difference in emergence between daytime and night-time sowing was observed only in the ploughed plots. In the disc-harrowed plots, barley sown during the day did not emerge later.

At the beginning of the growing season, the ploughed plots also had fewer weeds than the plots where reduced tillage was applied. For barley, this may mean a more favourable start – earlier establishment and less competition for water, nutrients, and light.

However, a good start does not necessarily guarantee a higher yield. Further research will show whether the early growth advantage persists until harvest and whether combining different crop-production measures can deliver not only lower production costs, but also a more stable and productive crop.