Abstract
ABSTRACT Maize crop under rainfed conditions is widely grown in the Brazilian Northeast on community farms for human and animal consumption. The application of mulch could be adopted to enhance rainwater harvesting and soil moisture levels, although such practice is rarely applied in rainfed cultivation. This study aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of maize productivity, based on soil physical attributes and plant growth and yield, under a rainfed regime in the presence and absence of mulch in the Brazilian semi-arid region. The study was conducted from May to September 2016 in Pesqueira - PE (locality of the Semiarid of Pernambuco State, Northeast, Brazil), during which the development and production of maize in experimental plots were evaluated, and maize was grown using the traditional cropping system with and without mulching. Two grids with 40 points in a 4 × 10 m mesh were established, with spacing of 1 m for soil sampling and maize biometric evaluation. For statistical analysis, 30 samples were randomly selected from each plot. Maize cultivated in the presence of mulch showed higher development, with symmetrical distribution for all variables except for soil moisture and stem diameter. Sand content, soil moisture, height of the first cob, number of leaves, leaf length, plant height, and cob weight presented moderate to strong spatial scale dependence for the two cropping conditions, with higher spatial dependence consistently observed for the development parameters in the covered area.
Highlights
As one of the main agricultural products in the Brazilian Northeast, maize is highly relevant to human nutrition and animal livestock
This study aimed to evaluate the spatial variability of maize productivity, based on soil physical attributes and plant growth and yield, under a rainfed regime in the presence and absence of mulch in the Brazilian semi-arid region
It is worth mentioning that the mean soil moisture at the covered plot (0.055) was 59% higher than it was in the bare soil plot (0.022), indicating the effectiveness of the 8 t ha-1 coconut straw mulching density in increasing soil moisture content
Summary
As one of the main agricultural products in the Brazilian Northeast, maize is highly relevant to human nutrition and animal livestock. Maize productivity in the semiarid northeast is sensitive to rainfall regimes, cultivation practices, and climate conditions (Brito et al, 2005; Neves et al, 2015). Maize presents high water use efficiency and high dry matter production per unit of absorbed water (Borges et al, 2014). In order to enhance crop production under rainfed conditions, soil management adopting conservation practices is highly recommended, especially in areas with high evapotranspiration rates (Sales et al, 2016). Mulching with dry bean straw (Santos et al, 2010) and rice straw (Montenegro et al, 2013; Abrantes et al, 2015) presents high performance for soil and water conservation
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