Ciencia del Suelo (Jul 2006)
Descompactación de suelos en siembra directa: efectos sobre las propiedades físicas y el cultivo de maíz Soil alleviation in direct drilling systems: effect on soil physical properties and maize crop
Abstract
Los suelos manejados con siembra directa presentan valores de resistencia a la penetración y de densidad aparente en superficie mayores que los suelos laboreados. La utilización de descompactadores puede ser una alternativa para aliviar dicha compactación. Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron: 1- evaluar el efecto de la descompactación en siembra directa sobre las algunas propiedades físicas del suelo a siembra y cosecha del cultivo de maíz; 2- determinar el efecto de la descompactación sobre el desarrollo de las raíces, el rendimiento del cultivo de maíz y sus componentes. Durante la campaña 2004/05 se llevaron a cabo tres experimentos en las localidades de Junín, San Gregorio y Chivilcoy. El diseño experimental fue de bloques completos con tres repeticiones. Los tratamientos evaluados fueron: testigo (siembra directa continua) y descompactado (pasaje de descompactador entre 36-42 cm de profundidad). A siembra y cosecha se determinó la densidad aparente, la humedad, la resistencia a la penetración y la infiltración. A floración se evaluó la abundancia radical, la radiación interceptada y el índice de verdor (SPAD). A cosecha se determinó el rendimiento y sus componentes. El tratamiento descompactado presentó un importante aumento de la tasa de infiltración a la siembra (PNo-tilled soils have higher penetration resistances and bulk density values than tilled soils. Shallow compaction may be alleviated using deep tillage practices. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of soil alleviation on: 1- soil physical properties at maize sowing and harvest, 2- root abundance, maize yield and its components. Three experiments were conducted during the 2004/05 growing season. The experiments had a complete block design, with 2 treatments (control and deep-tilled) and 3 replicates, and were located at Junín, San Gregorio and Chivilcoy. Soil bulk density, soil water content, soil penetration resistance and infiltration rate were determined at maize sowing and harvest. At flowering maize root abundance, intercepted photosynthetic active radiation and leaf greenness were determined. Additionally, yield and its components were measured. Soil alleviation increased infiltration rate at sowing (P<0,05), but there were no differences at harvest. Soil alleviation reduced penetration resistances at sowing by 54%, 28%, 42 % at Junin, San Gregorio and Chivilcoy, respectively (P<0,05). Deep tillage increased root abundance at flowering at Junin and Chivilcoy (P<0,05). Maize yield showed a positive and statistically significant increase with soil alleviation. However, its magnitude was only 6,5% more than control yield. This result was in accordance with a 3% increase in intercepted photosynthetic active radiation. Yield response to subsoiling was positively related with the original soil bulk density at each site. Although the measured changes might improve water use efficiency, little impact on yield was observed due to a relatively humid cropping season. More research is needed in order to establish crop response in a wide range of water availability and soil compaction conditions.
