Green and sweet corn grown under different cover crops and phases of the no-tillage system

Abstract

Special corn is cultivated all year conventionally round; however, its productivity increases when grown under a no-tillage system (NTS). This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance of sweet and green corn cultivated under residues of different cover crops and the NTS implantation stages. Two experiments were carried out in the randomized block design, with four replications, in each of the three areas. The experiments consisted of evaluating the sweet and green corn, simultaneously, in three areas at different stages of development of NTS: initial (1 year), transition (7 years), and consolidation (19 years) with six types of cover crops: Signal grass (SG), Pearl millet (PM), Sunn hemp (SH), a mixture of SG + SH, SG + PM, and PM + SH. The dry matter (DM) production of the cover crops, the productivity of husked and unhusked ears, straw, and grain yield were evaluated. The SH had the highest dry mass production among the studied cover crops in all phases of the NTS. The phase of the NTS did not influence the productivity of ears with or without husk in green corn. The cultivation of sweet corn in transition and consolidation areas of the NTS showed better yields when compared to the initial phase of the system.