Abstract
Soil tillage carried out in total area in sugarcane field reform causes changes in soil structure, affecting root system development due to the use of agricultural machinery from planting to harvesting. Thus, we assessed the growth and stalk productivity of sugarcane cultivated in an Oxisol and Ultisol submitted to chiseling in the planting row and in total area. The experiment was conducted in two agricultural areas in a large paired-plot design. Treatments consisted of two areas submitted to chiseling in the planting row (CPR) and chiseling in total area (CTA) in an Oxisol and Ultisol. The variables number of tillers, number of green and dead leaves per plant, leaf area, leaf area index, plant height, and total dry matter were measured during six assessments over the crop cycle sugarcane planting with the variety CTC 14 in the Oxisol and with the variety CTC 4 in the Ultisol. In addition, stalk productivity was assessed after harvesting. The assessments were performed at 1071, 1705, 2388, 3600, 4593, and 5764 accumulated degree-days (ADD) in the Oxisol and at 821, 1519, 2294, 3570, 4562, and 5754 ADD in the Ultisol. Soil tillage with CPR can be replaced by CTA since growth and stalk productivity of sugarcane were similar regardless of the location of the chiseling operation.
Highlights
Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer and may stand out even more in this scenario considering the increased demand for renewable fuels, its large extensions of arable lands, and its favorable edaphoclimatic conditions for sugarcane cultivation
In the Oxisol, initially, the number of tillers presented a peak of 15 and 16 tillers when submitted to chiseling in total area (CTA) and chiseling in the planting row (CPR), respectively, around 136 days after planting (DAP), corresponding to 1705 accumulated degree-days (ADD) (Figure 2)
In the Ultisol, the number of tillers presented a similar behavior, with maximum values of 22 tillers under CPR and 29 tillers when submitted to CTA at 170 DAP, which corresponds to approximately 2294 ADD (Figure 2)
Summary
Brazil is the world’s largest sugarcane producer and may stand out even more in this scenario considering the increased demand for renewable fuels, its large extensions of arable lands, and its favorable edaphoclimatic conditions for sugarcane cultivation. In the period of sugarcane field reform, soil tillage for planting is usually carried out in total area in order to promote a better root system development. The use of this practice has contributed to altering soil structure due to the traffic of agricultural machinery and implements from soil tillage to harvesting, which can compromise growth and productivity of sugarcane crop (Cherubin et al, 2017). Chiseling is a soil tillage operation that consists of breaking compacted soil layers by means of the penetration of mechanical rods, promoting soil disaggregation usually up to 30 cm deep (Mialhe, 1974). The use of soil tillage operations with chiseling in the planting row has been adopted as an alternative in some sugarcane producing areas, in an empirical way, promoting soil disaggregation in a smaller area, improving the quality of soil properties, and reducing production costs and use of fuel
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