Mechanical Chiseling and the Cover Crop Effect on the Common Bean Yield in the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

Core Ideas: (1) Superficial soil compaction in a no-tillage system. (2) Cultivation of cover crops in succession with annual crops. (3) Soil decompression with cultivation of the predecessor soil cover. (4) Unpacking soil with mechanical chiseling. (5) Biological chiseling with the cover crop effect on the common bean yield. Mechanical soil intervention with a chisel in cover crops (CC) is a promising alternative strategy to minimize superficial compaction of soil in a no-tillage system (NTS) of the Brazilian Cerrado. Thus, the objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of mechanical chiseling associated with successor and predecessor cover crops on agronomic components and the grain yield of the common bean in NTS for two consecutive years. The experiment was designed in randomized blocks in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme with four replications. The treatments consisted of five cover crops (Cajanus cajan, Crotalaria juncea, Urochloa ruziziensis and Pennisetum glaucum and fallow), associated or not with soil mechanical chiseling. The results indicated that cultivation of C. juncea and U. ruziziensis as cover crops increased the initial and the final plant population and the number of pods plant−1 of the common bean. The cultivation of P. glaucum as a predecessor crop with chiseling was observed with greater shoot dry matter and a greater number of grains pod−1 and plant−1 of the common bean while C. cajan and C. juncea have increased leaf N content in the common bean. The predecessor crops of C. juncea and P. glaucum with chiseling increased the grain yield of the “winter” common bean in succession. Therefore, cultivation of C. juncea and P. glaucum as predecessor crops along with chiseling are considered a sustainable strategy for improving the growth and the yield of successive crops in a no-tillage system of the Brazilian Cerrado.