Abstract
In no-tillage (NT) and minimum tillage (MT) areas, spatial variability of soil physical properties may affect crop yield. The aim of this study was to assess the spatial distribution of soil physical properties, as well as the yield components and grain yield of soybean (GY), based on the mapping of areas under soil conservation farming systems. We assessed yield components, GY and the physical properties of an Oxisol, under NT and MT using the t-student test, and geostatistics to assess spatial variability. The largest population of NT plants showed no spatial dependence and did not influence GY, but the components related to plant height and soil properties differed between systems. From a spatial standpoint, the kriging maps demonstrated that mass of one thousand grains (MOG), total porosity (TP) and soil bulk density (BD) influenced GY under NT, whereas TP1 exerted the most influence under high soil moisture conditions and MT. The maps make it possible to assess the spatial distribution of soil physical properties and the influence on GY, making them an important tool for more accurate production planning in soil conservation systems.
Highlights
The Brazil advances to become the largest producer of soybeans in the world, this should happen with greater investment in production technology (Pereira et al, 2018a)
POP was lower in minimum tillage (MT), and soil turning with scarifier blades likely affected seed deposition and cover in the soil, exposing them to heat, thereby hindering plant emergence because planting occurred after scarification
Cortez et al (2017) found lower POP in scarified soil compared to NT
Summary
The Brazil advances to become the largest producer of soybeans in the world, this should happen with greater investment in production technology (Pereira et al, 2018a). This is partly due to the use of conservation farming systems, such as NT (no-tillage) and MT (minimum tillage), which promote improved soil quality, enabling cropping systems to cover vast areas (Cortez et al, 2017). Soil conservation systems, which leave crop residue on the soil surface, include MT (using scarifiers) and NT (Dam et al, 2005). According to Kassam et al (2018), NT encompassed 180 million hectares in 2015/16, 32 million of which were in Brazil, making the country’s agriculture one of the most sustainable in the world (Freitas & Landers, 2014)
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