Maize (Zea mays) responses to crop establishment and weeding methods were studied over two seasons at Makoholi Experiment station in the semi-arid region of Zimbabwe. Crop establishment was by hand planting (HP), open plough furrow planting (OPFP) with an ox-drawn plough, ripping a planting line to a depth of 0.2 (R20) and 0.3 (R30) m with a ripper tine, whilst weeding methods were hand-hoeing, ox- cultivating between maize rows, or post-plant tie-ridging with an ox-plough at two and six weeks after crop emergence. OPFP and R30 produced similar maize grain yields, which were significantly (p < 0.01) greater than either HP or ripping to 0.2m deep (R20). Weed control methods had no significant effect on maize grain yield. However, HP and R20 plots had heavier weed infestation than other methods of crop establishment. Hand-weeded plots had significantly (p<0.01) more weeds than either ox-cultivated or ox -ploughed plots. The return to labour (kg of maize grain/ha) was similar for OPFP and R30. This was significantly more ( p<0.01) than either HP or R20. Labour requirements for ripping to 0.3m deep were significantly (p<0.05) greater than the other three tillage methods. The variation in volumetric water content indicated that ripped plots were significantly (p < 0.05) wetter than no-till hand- planted plots with more water stored below 0.25 m.

English

9712|AGRIS 9702

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection