The effectiveness of soil tillage systems in maize cultivation under variable meteorological conditions of central Serbia.
Year: 2019
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Soil tillage system is a basic in maize crop production. Under variable climatic conditions and \nfrequent occurrences of dry years, soil tillage adjusted to the soil type, agro-ecological \nconditions and the crop, can contribute to the achievement of the maximum yield potential. \nSystems of reduced tillage, particularly direct sowing, have been widely used in Europe. \nUnder agro-ecological conditions of central Serbia, the highest maize yields have been \nachieved by using conventional soil tillage with 20-25-cm deep autumn ploughing and a \nsingle pass land preparation in spring as 10-12-cm shallow tillage. In the Maize Research \nInstitute, Zemun Polje, the long-term experiment was conducted (2005-2016) in order to test \nthe efficacy of zero-, reduced and conventional tillage together with the application of \ndifferent rates of mineral fertilisers in maize cultivation. The experiment was performed under \nrainfed and irrigation conditions. The data were processed by four factorials ANOVA and \ndifferences were analysed by the LSD-test. Based on the precipitation sum in the investigated \nperiod, three years were extremely dry, four were moderately dry and five were favourable for \nmaize production. Under irrigation conditions, the 12-year maize grain yield average was \nhigher by 2.1 t ha-1 \nthan under rainfed conditions. Under rainfed conditions, differences \nbetween conventional and reduced or zero-tillage were 1.7, and 1.3 t ha-1 \n, respectively, while \nunder irrigated conditions conventional tillage was more productive by 1.4 t ha-1 \nthan reduced \nand zero-tillage, respectively. In some dry years, such 2012, the maize grain yield was higher \nunder conditions of reduced tillage than conventional tillage.
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3025419785