Knowledge Center Catalog

Tillage practices in corn production

Labios, R.V.

Tillage practices in corn production - Mexico, DF (Mexico) CIMMYT : 2004 - p. 296-306 - Printed

The potential of conservation tillage systems to improve corn yields while reducing production costs and conserving soil and water resources was tested through on-farm trials in two sites, namely: San Jose, Mindoro Occidental and Calabanga, Camarines Sur. A total of 9 farmer-partners cooperated in the conduct of the trial. Treatments include conventional tillage, minimum tillage, zero tillage and farmer's tillage practices, which are tested in factorial with variety or fertilizer. Results in Mindoro reveal that variation in grain yield is mainly due to tillage practices. Moreover, conservation tillage practices i.e., zero and minimum tillage, resulted to the higher grain yield of about 5.291 ha-1 in Mindoro. In the case of Camarines Sur, yield was not significantly affected by any of the treatments combinations applied (tillage x variety). Zero tillage obtained higher grain yield (2.88 t ha-1) followed closely by minimum tillage with 2.79 t ha-1. From these trials it is evident that conservation tillage management generally resulted to higher grain yield compared with the farmer's tillage practice. Conservation tillage practice is thus a viable option for corn production. Benefits obtained in adopting conservation tillage will be further realized in terms of economic returns, where highest net benefit is obtained due to lower production costs. In addition, when the soil surface is left undisturbed, soil moisture is conserved at a time when dry periods are a problem.


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Crop yield
Maize
Seed production
Soil cultivation
Water resources
Weed control
Zero tillage

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