Abstract
Minimum tillage has been shown to slow early corn ( Zea mays L.) growth and reduce grain yields in some soil types and under some climatic conditions. To overcome these limitations, the no‐till (NT) system can be modified by incorporating residues and loosening the soil in a zone over the center of the row while leaving the interrow area untilled. This study compares soil temperatures and corn growth and productivity under zone till (ZT), NT, and conventional tillage (CT) systems in a coarse‐textured soil (Psammentic Hapludalf) located in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Soil temperature at the 4‐cm depth decreased with decreasing tillage intensity from CT to NT during warmer years but was similar in CT and ZT during a cooler year. This resulted in reduced growing degree days in the seed zone with decreasing tillage. Lower soil temperatures in NT did not delay the initiation of corn seedling emergence but did reduce the rate of emergence compared with CT plots. Corn growth rates were found to be similar among tillage systems in the early part of the growing system but were higher for both the ZT and NT systems during late vegetative and early reproductive growth. Grain yields increased as tillage intensity decreased in a year with drier conditions at tasseling but were similar across tillage systems in the other 2 yr. These results suggest that converting a NT system to a ZT system would neither result in significantly higher yields, nor cause a serious grain yield reduction relative to CT.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Soil temperature decreased from conventional to no till in warmer years.
- Taxon
- corn
Zea mays subsp. mayst0 - Treatment
- decreasing tillage intensity from CT to NTe0
- Outcome
- Soil temperaturee0
- Direction
- decreasede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Soil temperature at the 4‐cm depth decreased with decreasing tillage intensity from CT to NT during warmer years”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil temperature was similar under conventional and zone tillage in a cooler year.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- similar in CT and ZTe0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“was similar in CT and ZT during a cooler year”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Growing degree days in the seed zone declined with less tillage.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- growing degree days in the seed zonee0
- Direction
- reducede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“reduced growing degree days in the seed zone with decreasing tillage”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
No tillage did not delay corn seedling emergence initiation.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Treatment
- NTe0
- Outcome
- initiation of corn seedling emergencee0
- Direction
- did not delaye0
- Comparator
- CT plotse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lower soil temperatures in NT did not delay the initiation of corn seedling emergence but did reduce the rate of emergence compared with CT plots”
Claim · model-written summary
No tillage reduced corn emergence rate relative to conventional tillage.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Treatment
- NTe0
- Outcome
- rate of emergencee0
- Direction
- reducee0
- Comparator
- CT plotse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lower soil temperatures in NT did not delay the initiation of corn seedling emergence but did reduce the rate of emergence compared with CT plots”
Claim · model-written summary
Early corn growth rates were similar among tillage systems.
- Taxon
- CornZea mays subsp. mayse0
- Outcome
- growth ratese0
- Direction
- similare0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Corn growth rates were found to be similar among tillage systems in the early part of the growing system”
Claim · model-written summary
Late vegetative and early reproductive growth rates were higher under zone and no tillage.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- growthe0
- Direction
- highere0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“were higher for both the ZT and NT systems during late vegetative and early reproductive growth”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yields rose as tillage intensity declined in the drier tasseling year.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- Grain yieldse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Grain yields increased as tillage intensity decreased in a year with drier conditions at tasseling”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Grain yields were similar among tillage systems in the other two years.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- similar across tillage systemse0
- Direction
- similare0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“were similar across tillage systems in the other 2 yr”
t0“Corn Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Converting no tillage to zone tillage is unlikely to improve yield significantly or seriously reduce it relative to conventional tillage.
- Taxon
- cornZea mays subsp. mayst0
- Outcome
- converting a NT system to a ZT systeme0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“converting a NT system to a ZT system would neither result in significantly higher yields, nor cause a serious grain yield reduction relative to CT”
t0“Corn Production”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · growth · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
86 papers in the same direction as this paper · 196 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
279 papers more in this group
See all 283 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.