Root growth and crop performance of soybean under chemical, physical, and biological changes after subsoiling

Abstract

Chemical, physical and biological soil attributes can facilitate soybean root growth in greater volume and depth in the soil, which can minimize yield reduction caused by water deficit. Soil management can contribute positively or negatively to these soil attributes. The aim of this work was to evaluate the root growth and crop performance of soybean, in response to chemical, physical and biological changes after subsoiling at different depths. At the R5 phenological stage, trenches were made for sampling and soil collection for chemical, physical and biological analysis and root growth was carried out. At V5, V7, R2 and R5 stages, plants were collected to evaluate height, leaf area and dry mass. At V5, stage number and dry mass of the nodules were evaluated. Subsoiling increased pH and Ca, and decreased Al in the soil, resulted in higher relative density and did not affect in mechanical penetration resistance compared to non-subsoiled soil. Basal respiration and soybean nodulation were higher in the subsoiled soil. Up to 15 cm depth, there were 87.91% of the total root dry mass and 78.79% of the total root volume. Initial and final plant growth were the same in subsoiled and non-subsoiled soil. Number of nodules in the subsoiled soil was 28% higher than in the non-subsoiled soil. Under these study conditions, subsoiling provides lower root growth but benefits grain yield.

Effects of the twin-row planter with subsoiling on soybean growth and yield in northern China

“…Therefore, the inter-row subsoiling enhanced the mutual promotion of root systems and aboveground parts. This was in contrast to the conclusion reached by Müller et al (2020) that subsoiling provided lower root growth. From Table 4 and Figure 7C, the root shoot ratio (RSR) in the inter-row subsoiling treatment was 12.30% lower than in the no subsoiling treatment.…”

Jujube is at a competitiveness disadvantage to cotton in intercropped system

“…As a result, even under water deficit, the intercropped cotton still showed good growth potential. Plants maximize their spatial root distribution to obtain underground resources (Müller et al, 2020), modifying their root system architecture based on changes in external conditions. When the resource requirements of plants overlap under resource-limited conditions, interspecific competition will inevitably occur (Wang et al, 2020).…”