Abstract: Conservation tillage and the weed diversity are two hot issues in the modern ecological agriculture. Although it is known that the diversity of weed would increase slightly in the farmland under conservation tillage, the interaction effects between the tillage and the nutrient management on the weed community are not clear. In this study, one wheat-maize rotation field located in Ji’nan, Shandong Province, was selected as the studying site. Different tillage methods (no-tillage, deep subsoiling, rotary tillage, deep tillage) and different nutrient managements (farmers routine, 480 kg N hm^-2 per year; high production and efficiency, 360 kg N hm^-2 per year; optimal management, 300 kg N hm^-2 per year) were carried out for 3 years. The characteristics of the spring weed communities under different managements were investigated and compared. The results showed that there were 15 species in the spring weed communities in the test filed and Digitaria sanguinalis and Echinochloa crusgalli were the dominant species. The plots under no-tillage or deep subsoiling had higher weed densities compared with those under the deep tillage or rotary tillage. In terms of the effect of tillage on the weed community diversity, both species richness index and species evenness index were lowest but the community dominance index was highest in the plots under deep tillage. In terms of the effect of the nutrient management, with the increase of fertilizer application, both species richness and evenness index increased under the different tillage methods. The community dominance increased with the increasing fertilizer application under deep tillage or rotary tillage and vice versa under no-tillage, deep subsoiling. In terms of weed biomass, the plots under no-tillage or deep subsoiling had significantly higher weed biomass than those under the other two tillage methods. The plots under routine nutrient management had higher weed biomass than those under the other two nutrient managements. Among all these treatments, the plots under the combination treatment of no-tillage and routine nutrient management had the highest weed biomass. According to these results, it was implied that no-tillage and fertilization would improve species richness index, species evenness index, and the productivity of spring weed community in the wheat-maize farmland.

Key words: nutrient management, tillage practice, biodiversity, weed community