Abstract
Roots may respond to restrictive soil physical conditions and send signals to shoots to control plant growth. Soil mechanical resistance and aeration can be managed to improve the soil physical conditions for plant growth by using different tillage systems. The objective of this study was to quantify the influence of no-tillage and conventional-tillage systems on plant response to soil mechanical resistance and aeration. The study was carried out on a farm, cultivated with corn, with a side-by-side comparison of no-tillage and conventional-tillage systems. Thirty-two paired sampling sites were located along two transects, located one in each treatment. Soil water content, bulk density, and plant growth were measured in each treatment. Based on the soil water and bulk density measurements, the air-filled porosity values were computed for each treatment. Soil water contents and bulk density values were converted to soil mechanical resistance by using the soil resistance curve. Plant growth varied positively with soil air-filled porosity, and negatively with soil mechanical resistance in both tillage systems. However, the decrease rates/increase rates were dependent on the tillage system. The no-tillage system somehow improved the soil physical conditions for the plants, especially when they were more restrictive, allowing them to attain greater values of growth.
Highlights
Plant growth may be altered by a number of stress factors that are encountered by roots in their environment
There was an air-filled porosity (AFP) range from about 0.05 m3 m-3 to 0.15 m3 m-3 in which plant growth (PG) increased with increasing AFP, and over which PG changed from affected to unaffected, for both tillage treatments
The decreasing slopes of the curves indicate that the PG sensitivity to aeration decreases as AFP increases
Summary
Plant growth may be altered by a number of stress factors that are encountered by roots in their environment. Chanical resistance may affect leaf and stem growth (Masle & Passioura, 1987; Masle, 1990; Karunatilake et al, 2000; Passioura, 2002). Another stress factor, the soil air-filled porosity, may cause detrimental effects on plant growth (Voorhees et al, 1975; Drew, 1990; He et al, 1996; Grichko & Glick, 2001; Zou et al, 2001). As the total air-filled porosity decreases to 10% or less, the oxygen diffusion rate into the soil is inhibited, causing injury to roots and their inability to function (Engelaar & Yoneyama, 2000)
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