Soil physical properties, nitrogen uptake and grain quality of maize (Zea mays L.) as affected by tillage systems and nitrogen application

Submitted: 15 January 2018
Accepted: 27 August 2018
Published: 30 October 2018
Abstract Views: 1675
PDF: 878
HTML: 95
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

  • Allah Wasaya wasayauaf@gmail.com College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahadur Sub-Campus Layyah, Pakistan.
  • Muhammad Tahir Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
  • Tauqeer Ahmad Yasir College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahadur Sub-Campus Layyah, Pakistan.
  • Muhammad Akram Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • Omer Farooq Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
  • Naeem Sarwar Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

Soil compaction is a global issue pertaining to agricultural lands. The frequent use of farm machinery and field operations at the same depth are the major causes of soil compaction. The gradual increase in soil compaction deteriorates maize grain quality due to reduced nitrogen (N) uptake. Quality food production by reducing soil compaction is the need of time, which can be achieved through deep tillage and N management. In this study, three tillage systems viz. conventional tillage (using cultivator), tillage with mould board plough +2-cultivations (MBP), and tillage with chisel plough +2-cultivations (CP); and three nitrogen levels viz. 100, 150 and 200 kg ha–1 were used to evaluate their effect on soil properties, N uptake and grain quality in maize. Lower bulk density (1.41 Mg m–3), higher total porosity (0.47 m3 m–3) and higher nitrogen uptake (96.01 kg ha–1) was recorded under chisel plough (CP) compared with other tillage systems. Different N levels had significant effect on grain and total N uptake and grain quality, while soil properties remains unaffected. Higher N uptake was recorded with 200 kg ha–1 N application than other treatments. Similarly, 8.51% and 8.57% more grain protein contents were recorded with 200 kg ha–1 N during first and second year respectively. Unlike grain protein, starch and oil contents were negatively affected by N application being higher starch (71.7%) and oil contents (3.41%) with less N supply (100 kg ha–1). However, interaction effect of tillage and nitrogen levels was found non-significant for all studied parameters except for oil contents. Higher oil contents were recorded with MBP along with 100 kg ha–1 N application. Overall study indicated that deep ploughing with CP is important for maize to explore more soil area for nutrient uptake and N is also important for improving grain quality especially protein contents an important food constituent.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

How to Cite

Wasaya, A., Tahir, M., Yasir, T. A., Akram, M., Farooq, O., & Sarwar, N. (2018). Soil physical properties, nitrogen uptake and grain quality of maize (Zea mays L.) as affected by tillage systems and nitrogen application. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 13(4), 324–331. https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2018.1197

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.