Plant Soil Environ., 2013, 59(7):295-302 | DOI: 10.17221/57/2013-PSE

Effects of tillage on soil physical properties and root growth of maize in loam and clay in central ChinaOriginal Paper

B. Ji^1,2, Y. Zhao¹, X. Mu¹, K. Liu³, C. Li¹

¹ Agronomy College, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, P.R. China

² Agricultural and Rural Council of Xingyang, Zhengzhou, P.R. China

³ Department of Engineering, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, Canada

Subsoil compaction can result in unfavourable soil physical conditions and hinder the root growth of maize. The effects of deep tillage and conventional tillage on soil physical properties and root growth of maize were studied during 2010-2011 at two sites (loam at Hebi and clay at Luohe) in central China. The results showed that soil penetration resistance, bulk density, water content and root length density were significantly affected by tillage, soil depth and year. Deep tillage had lower penetration resistance and lower soil bulk density, but higher soil water content than conventional tillage across years and depths. Averaged over the whole soil profile, deep tillage not only significantly decreased penetration resistance and soil bulk density, but significantly increased soil water content and root length density on loam, while deep tillage only significantly increased the root length density on clay. We conclude that deep tillage on the loam is more suitable for the root growth of summer maize.

Keywords: soil compaction; penetration resistance; deep tillage; conventional tillage; root length density

Published: July 31, 2013  Show citation