Conservation of soil moisture in deep tillage rigosol under wheat and maize

Abstract

At the experimental field "Radmilovac" of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Belgrade the study of the conservation of soil moisture in deep tillage Rigosol was carried out. The so called type of soil Rigosol was covered by wheat and maize. The Rigosol was formed by special treatment of the parent soil the Eutric Cambisol. The researches have been conducted during the most important phenophases of the crop growth, including formation of kernels, flowering, fertilization, grain filling and maturity. Special attention was paid to the measurements of soil moisture in the period when crop water requirements are the greatest. The conservation of the soil moisture was observed along the vertical profiles of soil. The following parameters were monitored: time intervals without rainfall, precipitation rate and the rate of crop phenophase development. Very favorable soil moisture conservation was observed, both for wheat and maize covered soil. The greatest content of soil moisture was measured at the depths from 10 to 30 cm, in the zone of crop roots. As the consequence, the favorable conditions for crop growth and yields were observed. Deep tillage of soil had positive effects on homogeneous distribution of soil moisture along the vertical profile, independently of the crop type. It was shown that the Rigosol ensures better conservation of the soil moisture than the parent soil (Eutric Cambisol), if all agriculture measures are applied in the proper time.