engleski

Responses of maize (Zea mays L.) roots to soil condition in an extreme growing season

Maize (Zea mays L.) covers the greatest area in Hungarian crop production relation. While tillage effects on soil condition and through the physical changes influence the depth and formation of the crop rooting. Maize root development was investigated in a long-term experiment on a Chernozem soil at the Experimental and Training Farm of the Szent István University (47o 68’N, 19o 60’ E, 130 m a.s.l.) near the town Hatvan, Hungary. The objective was to compare mass and formation of the maize (Zea mays L.) roots in soils prepared by three different tillage systems. Methods of the primary tillage were suitable for conventional, soil remedying and the conservation principles that are ploughing (P, 30-32 cm), subsoiling (S, 40-45 cm) and tine tillage (T, 18— 22 cm). The soil state was favourably loosened in the first three months, including at planting, then the soil became settled owing to the repeatedly, and often torrential rains. The maize roots has optimally grown in the first three months, and reached the maximal length, and later, probably due to the deterioration of the loosened state, it has not lengthened. The T treatment had the longest root (45.5 cm) and the highest root mass (8.84 t/ha) which differed significantly (P<0.05) from values obtained at the S and the P treatments. The results had particular importance in the contexts of the extreme growing season. Due to the soil condition assessments, more useful data were available to specify the effects of repeated rains on maize production.

soil tillage ; climate extreme ; loosened soil layer ; root biomass

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