Seed Dispersal

the expulsion by wind of the upper layer of soil with sown seeds and occasionally even with sprouts; observed in the presence of strong dry winds, so-called dust or black storms, particularly markedly on pulverized, structureless soil.

In seed dispersal, some of the seeds might remain in the soil, but they shift or are pushed into clumps, causing either complete destruction of the planting or uneven distribution of the sprouts. The root system of developing sprouts becomes exposed, and the plant dies. Seed dispersal most often takes place in spring in fields that had lain fallow the previous year and had been seeded with spring crops and in fall on winter sprouts planted on fallow land. Most often seed dispersal is seen in steppe regions. In the USSR it takes place in western Siberia, northern Kazakhstan, Bashkiriia, Stavropol’ Krai, and Krasnodar Krai.

Methods of fighting seed dispersal include planting tree belts and using proper crop rotation and proper systems of soil cultivation and irrigation. The All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Grain Farming in Steppe Regions has worked out methods of cultivating the soil without mold-boards, in which up to 90 percent of the stubble stays on the soil surface, safely guarding the soil from wind erosion.