Maize growing under different tillage systems

Abstract

The effects of three tillage systems (conventional and two conservation systems) on the grain yield of the maize hybrid ZPSC 704 were observed in the present study. The two-year (2006 and 2007) trail was set up on chernozem in experimental plots of the Maize Research Institute, Zemun Polje, in Belgrade-Zemun. Maize growing practices that included the conservation tillage system with the chisel plough and different rates of mineral fertilisers provided, especially in 2006, the grain yield at the level of the yield gained by the conventional tillage system that included the conventional plough. The lowest maize grain yields in both investigated years in both watering regimes were obtained under the no-tillage system. The mineral fertiliser application and a consequent plant nutrition showed a certain regularity in relation to the watering regimes. Namely, the highest average maize grain yields were obtained under rainfed conditions with a poorer nutrition, while the lowest yields were gained under irrigation regimes also with a poorer nutrition.