Abstract:
Soil provides suitable media
for plant growth and development during
the whole crop life cycle. The agronomic
management practices can improve the soil
fertility and crop productivity on sustainable
basis. To explore the effects of some agromanagement
practices on the spring maize,
an experiment was conducted at the
Agronomic Research Area, University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, during
spring season 2010 and 2011, using
randomized complete block design with
split block design arrangements. The
experiment comprised of four tillage
treatments viz: zero tillage (T1), minimum
tillage (T2), conventional tillage (T3) and
deep tillage (T4) in the main plots, while the
four mulch treatments i.e. control (M1),
black plastic mulch (M2), wheat straw
mulch 10 Mg ha-1 (M3) and grass mulch 10
Mg ha-1 (M4) in the sub plots. Irrigation was
provided according to crop requirement and
herbicides were applied to control the
weeds. All the tillage practices significantly
affected (p<0.05) the different soil physical
properties i.e. soil bulk density, soil total
porosity, water infiltration rate and root
penetration resistance. Deep tillage practice
and black plastic mulch significantly
increased the grain yield (m-2) of spring
maize than the zero tillage, minimum
tillage, conventional tillage, no mulch,
wheat straw mulch and rice straw mulch in
both years of study. The two years field
results suggested that the mulches improved
soil aeration and water infiltration rate,
lower the soil bulk density and root
penetration resistance than the control
treatments.
