Tillage-Driven Trade-Offs Between Agronomic Performance and Nutritional Lipid Quality of Field Pea Under Contrasting Growing Seasons

Conservation tillage may influence not only crop productivity but also the nutritional quality of harvested seeds. This two-year field study (2025–2026) evaluated the Alvesta field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cultivar grown after maize under no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CV) in southeastern Romania. Agronomic performance was assessed together with seed fattyacid composition determined by GC-FID and derived nutritional lipid quality indices. Conventional tillage showed higher productivity-related traits in both growing seasons, with thousand-seed weight reaching 255.45 g under CV compared with 235.00 g under NT in 2025, and 283.08 g compared with 273.31 g in 2026, respectively. Agronomic performance was generally higher in the wetter 2026 season. In contrast, NT consistently maintained slightly higher proportions of polyunsaturated (PUFA) and total unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), as well as ω-6 and ω-3 fractions. Linoleic acid was the predominant fatty acid (41.58–42.20 %), followed by oleic (19.73–20.12 %) and α-linolenic acids (16.43–16.78 %). Total UFA remained above 80 % across all year × tillage combinations, confirming the favorable lipid composition of Alvesta pea seeds. The highest PUFA (59.87 %), UFA (81.34 %), and ω-3 (17.22 %) values occurred under NT in 2025. These findings reveal a contrasting response between agronomic performance and seed lipid composition, suggesting that higher productivity does notnecessarily correspond to a more favorable nutritional lipid profile. Integrating biochemical quality with agronomic indicators may therefore provide a more comprehensive assessment of tillage systems in field pea production.