Tillage effects on soil properties and maize productivity in western Turkey

Abstract

Information regarding the evaluation of long-term tillage effects on soil properties and summer maize growth after winter vetch in western Turkey is not available. Therefore, this study was conducted for 5 years with three types of tillage including conventional (mouldboard plough) and conservation (rototiller and chisel). Results indicated that tillage had no significant effect on penetration resistance, except at the bottom of 20 cm soil depth where it was higher in mouldboard plough than in rototiller and chisel. Bulk density in the topsoil of 10 cm decreased with the degree of soil manipulation during tillage practices. Rototiller caused significantly higher root, leaf and stems biomass and plant height than the other systems. The root dry weight was higher in the topsoil of 10 cm than at the bottom of this soil depth for all systems. The highest root dry weight was found in fourth year of chisel, but the lowest was recorded in the same year of plough, especially at the bottom of 20 cm due to higher penetration. Rototiller improved soil properties and maize growth compared to other systems in 2 of 5 years. We concluded that using rototiller for maize after winter vetch will be more effective compared with other systems.

Nutrient concentration and yield of maize (Zea maysL.) after vetch (Vicia sativaL.) in conventional and reduced tillage systems

“…These results are not in agreement with other studies that differences in K due to a more rapid mineralization when chisel had slower mineralization (Hussain et al, 1999). Lipiec and Stepniewski (1995) and Hussain et al (1999) reported that K generally decreases with increasing soil compaction when compaction was occurred under CT topsoil of this study area (Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2014). S and N were higher in both aboveground and roots in all tillage systems (Figure 2 The cited authors found that higher Mn in roots of reduced tillage when compared with plough.…”

“…(Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2014). Some authors found higher Fe in reduced tillage than plough (Houx et al, 2011;García-Marco et al, 2014), while other authors observed the opposite tendency (Lavado et al, 1999).…”

“…13 deficiency was mainly affected by low soil temperature (Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2014), but temperature during growing seasons were always equal or lower than optimal temperature for plant growth (Thompson, 1986). Rhoton (2000) and García-Marco et al (2014) also concluded that, Fe, Mn and Zn tented to be higher in reduced tillage than in plough tillage under drought year, while opposite was true in the year without water limitation.…”

“…In three tillage systems, K was lower than the critical level with 0.100 g kg 1 (Hussain et al, 1999), due to without K fertilization during vetch and maize growing seasons. In addition, higher soil compaction in MT, especially in subsoil, (Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2014) may be responsible to decrease K compared with ST. These results were consistent with Lipiec and Stepniewski (1995) who reported that K and its uptake generally decrease with increasing soil compaction.…”

“…Reduced tillage (without soil inversion) systems has been mainly applied for winter cereals since the last three decades due to low mechanization level. These systems improve water supply to plants (Ozpinar, 2006a), decrease the manpower and energy (due to less fuel consumption), while they increase economic and timeliness advantages (Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2011) without detrimental effect on crop yields (Ozpinar and Ozpinar, 2014). Despite their economic advantages, little information is still available for these poor fertile soils (Ozpinar, 2006a;Ozpinar, 2006b) with low nutrient availability on reduced tillage effects in the soil-plant system under winter vetch-summer maize rotation.…”