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Evaluation of the interaction between environmental factors, cultivation and fertilisation
103-108Views:128The effect of production factors on maize yield was examined in the Látókép Experiment Site of the Centre of Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences of the University of Debrecen on calcareous chernozem soil between 2001 and 2003. The impact of environmental factors (precipitation, temperature, number of sunny hours), cultivation methods (autumn ploughing, spring shallow cultivation) and fertilisation (non-fertilised, 120 kg N + 90 kg P2O5 + 106 kg K2O, and 240 kg N + 180 kg P2O5 + 212 kg K2O) on maize yield was examined. During the three years, autumin ploughing significantly increased yield by 2.91 t ha-1 in comparison with spring shallow cultivation. The yield increasing effect of fertilisation was observed in each year, although its extent depended on the given crop year and the applied cultivation method. The higher fertiliser dose (240 kg N ha-1) did not cause significantly higher yield in either year. After the evaluation of the observed correlations, it can be established that the yield increasing
effect of fertilisation was higher in the case of autumn ploughing in comparison with spring shallow cultivation. The environmental factors (especially the extent of precipitation) significantly affected the maize yield. -
Evaluation of reduced tillage technologies in corn production based on soil and crop analyses
47-54Views:191Despite new cultivation methods, the proportion of conventionally cultivated land is still very high in Hungary.
Although these technologies demand more time, labour and fuel, they are still attractive to users because they require less professional skill and simple machinery. In Hungary, conventional tillage methods usually lead to soil deterioration, soil compaction and a decrease in organic content. These side effects have caused gradually strengthening economic and environmental problems.
The technologies for those plants which are dominant on Hungarian arable lands use (winter wheat, maize, sunflower and barley) need to be improved both in the interest of environmental protection and the reduction of cultivation costs.
The Department of Land Use at Debrecen University is cooperating with KITE Sc. to carry out soil tillage experiments at two pilot locations to prove tillage technologies already used in the USA.
The aim of our examination is to adapt new technological developments and machinery, and to improve them on Hungarian soil for local environmental conditions. With these improved machines, the field growing of plants could be executed by less manipulation and better suited to economic and environmental needs. The most significant task is to investigate and improve the conventional cultivation replacing, new soil-protecting tillage technologies, and to apply no-till and mulch tillage systems.
On the basis of the experiments’ survey data, we established that the looseness and moisture content of the soil using reduced tillage is more favourable than after using conventional technologies. The results of no-till and shallow spring tillage are behind those of winter plough or disk ripper cultivation in corn yield and production elements.
To preserve moisture content in the soil, the ground clearing and sowing while simultaneously performing no-till method presents the most favourable results. The surplus moisture gained using no-till technology is equal to 40 mm precipitation.
Regarding the yield of winter wheat we established that the tillage methods do not affect plant yield. Both disk ripper and conventional disc cultivation showed nearly the same harvest results (5.55 or 5.5 t/ha), where the difference is statistically hardly verifiable from the no-till method. From the individual production of corn and the number of plants planted in unit area, calculated results prove that no significant difference can be detected between the production of winter plough and disk ripper technology. Although the yield achieved with the no-till method is less than with the previously mentioned technologies, the difference is only 9-10%. We received the lowest production at shallow spring tillage.
Evaluations have shown a 1.1 t/ha (13%) difference in the yield of maize, between winter tillage and the disk ripper method, in this case the traditional method resulted in higher yield. In winter tillage, the yield of maize was 1.9-2.1 t/ha (23-25%) higher than in the case of direct sowing and cultivator treatments. No significant difference could be noted between the yields of direct sowing and cultivator treatments.
Our research so far has proved the industrial application of reduced tillage methods in crop cultivation technologies. -
Effects of soil cultivation and environmental changes on maize yield
97-100Views:181We evaluated the relationships among soil cultivation and other agrotechnical factors (fertilization, number of plants and hybrid) within the framework of a multifactorial long-term experiment set at the Látókép Experimental Site of the Centre for Agricultural Sciences of the University of Debrecen in mid-heavy chalcareous chernozem soil based on a long-term experiment conducted for a 5-year period (2002–2006).
Based on the evaluation of soil cultivation by the average of treatments, it may be assessed that spring ploughing (8.204 t ha-1) provides more favourable conditions to the stand compared to spring shallow cultivation; however, this did not result in a significant difference. Spring ploughing considerably increased the yield of hybrid FAO 300 in dry years, whereas it considerably increased the yield of hybrid FAO 400 in favourable crop years. A stand of 70 thousand stems/ha provided the higher yield result in both soil cultivation types. It was sufficient to use a fertilizer dose of 120 kg N ha-1 for economical production.