scholarly journals Mulching Effects and Nitrogen Application on the Performance of Zea mays L: Crop Growth and Nutrient Accumulation

2016 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 36-42
Author(s):  
Frank O. Oroka

Maize is an agronomic cereal species that is sensitive to nutrient applications, especially nitrogen. Field experiments were conducted in 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and mulching using dried weeds on maize growth and nutrient accumulation. The study was located in the Research Farm of the Agricultural Science Education Unit of the Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria ((latitude 5046’N and longitude 605’E). The experiment consist of eight (8) treatments (i) control (ii) 40kgNha-1(iii) 80kgNha-1(iv) 120kgNha-1(v) 4.5t ha-1Panicum maximum+ 40kgNha-1(vi) 4.5t ha-1Pueraria phaseoloides+ 40kgNha-1(vii) 4.5t ha-1Eleusine indica+ 40kgNha-1(viii) 4.5t ha-1Stylosanthesgracilis+ 40kgNha-1. The treatments were replicated three times. From research results, the combination ofPueraria phaseoloideswith 40kgNha-1showed higher maize plant height, foliage development attributes, shoot dry matter, crop growth indices and nutrient uptake compared to other combinations, while only nitrogen application of 120kgNha-1recorded the highest in all the treatments. It can be concluded based on the results in this study, that legume based weeds as mulch can be supplemented with nitrogen to improve maize growth.

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Aloysius Beah ◽  
Alpha Y. Kamara ◽  
Jibrin M. Jibrin ◽  
Folorunso M. Akinseye ◽  
Abdullahi I. Tofa ◽  
...  

This paper assessed the application of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM)–maize module as a decision support tool for optimizing nitrogen application to determine yield and net return of maize production under current agricultural practices in the Nigeria savannas. The model was calibrated for two maize varieties using data from field experiments conducted under optimum conditions in three locations during the 2017 and 2018 cropping seasons. The model was evaluated using an independent dataset from an experiment conducted under different nitrogen (N) levels in two locations within Southern and Northern Guinea savannas. The results show that model accurately predicted days to 50% anthesis and physiological maturity, leaf area index (LAI), grain yield and total dry matter (TDM) of both varieties with low RMSE and RMSEn (%) values within the range of acceptable statistics indices. Based on 31-year seasonal simulation, optimum mean grain yield of 3941 kg ha−1 for Abuja, and 4549 for Kano was simulated at N rate of 120 kg ha–1 for the early maturing variety 2009EVDT. Meanwhile in Zaria, optimum mean yield of 4173 kg ha–1 was simulated at N rate of 90 kg ha−1. For the intermediate maturing variety, IWDC2SYNF2 mean optimum yields of 5152, 5462, and 4849 kg ha−1, were simulated at N application of 120 kg ha−1 for all the locations. The probability of exceeding attainable mean grain yield of 3000 and 4000 kg ha−1 for 2009EVDT and IWDC2SYNF2, respectively would be expected in 95% of the years with application of 90 kg N ha−1 across the three sites. Following the profitability scenarios analysis, the realistic net incomes of US$ 536 ha–1 for Abuja, and US$ 657 ha−1 for Zaria were estimated at N rate of 90 kg ha−1 and at Kano site, realistic net income of US$ 720 ha–1was estimated at N rate of 120 kg ha−1 for 2009EVDT.For IWDC2SYNF2, realistic net incomes of US$ 870, 974, and 818 ha−1 were estimated at N application of 120 kg ha−1 for Abuja, Zaria, and Kano respectively. The result of this study suggests that 90 kg N ha−1 can be recommended for 2009EVDT and 120 kg N ha–1 for IWDC2SYNF2 in Abuja and Zaria while in Kano, 120 kg N ha−1 should be applied to both varieties to attain optimum yield and profit.


MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-172
Author(s):  
ANANTA VASHISTH ◽  
DEBASISH ROY ◽  
AVINASH GOYAL ◽  
P. KRISHNAN

Field experiments were conducted on the research farm of IARI, New Delhi during Rabi 2016-17 and 2017-18. Three varieties of wheat (PBW-723, HD-2967 and HD-3086) were sown on three different dates for generating different weather condition during various phenological stages of crop. Results showed that during early crop growth stages soil moisture had higher value and soil temperature had lower value and with progress of crop growth stage, the moisture in the upper layer decreased and soil temperature increased significantly as compared to the bottom layers. During tillering and jointing stage, air temperature within canopy was more and relative humidity was less while during flowering and grain filling stage, air temperature within canopy was less and relative humidity was more in timely sown crop as compared to late and very late sown crop. Radiation use efficiency and relative leaf water content had significantly higher value while leaf water potential had lower value in timely sown crop followed by late and very late sown crop. Yield had higher value in HD-3086 followed by HD-2967 and PBW-723 in all weather conditions. Canopy air temperature difference had positive value in very late sown crop particularly during flowering and grain-filling stages. This reflects in the yield. Yield was more in timely sown crop as compared to late and very late sown crop.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Long Wang ◽  
Lingli Li ◽  
Qingping Zhou

Agricultural information technology is an emerging technology based on the cross-fertilization of information technology and agricultural science, which has caused the rapid development of digital agriculture and smart agriculture. Crop growth models, as one of their core components, can dynamically simulate the crop growth and development process and its relationship with climate factors, soil properties, and management techniques, thus effectively overcoming the strong spatial and temporal limitations in traditional agricultural production management research and providing quantitative tools for early warning and effect assessment of crop productivity prediction under different conditions. This study focuses on the general technical approach, the latest research progress, and future development thinking developed by the authors in the construction and application of the tea mushroom growth model. Based on the fitting method of the data model curve of the Internet laboratory, this study is proposed to use network programming technology to digitally fit the growth curve of cap diameter and stalk diameter of the fruiting body in the process of Agrocybe cylindracea growth. The fitting system adopted the development mode of PHP + MYSQL and took the MYSQL database as the core, which made the curve fitting of the final experimental data fast, convenient, and more intelligent. This study laid a preliminary foundation for the effective establishment and improvement of laboratory Agrocybe cylindracea, fruiting body growth data statistics and analysis, and graphical output network sharing.


2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzete Fernandes Lima ◽  
Leandro Spíndola Pereira ◽  
Gustavo Dorneles Sousa ◽  
Simonny Araújo Vasconcelo ◽  
Adriano Jakelaitis ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT: The use of herbicide underdoses allows minimizing the competition of grasses on annual crops, enabling simultaneous cultivation. In this context, the objective of this study was to investigate glyphosate underdoses on the suppression of the initial growth of three Panicum maximum cultivars aiming at the integrated cultivation, in addition to the effects of forage species on the incidence and development of weeds. Three field experiments were conducted. The experimental design was a randomized block design with four replications and eight treatments consisting of increasing glyphosate doses (0, 54, 108, 270, 378, 540, 756, and 1,080 g a.e. ha−1). An atrazine dose of 1,200 g a.i. ha−1 was added to each treatment. Plant phytotoxicity assessments were performed at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days after application. At 80 and 125 days after sowing, the assessments of total dry matter production, leaf dry matter, stem dry matter, and leaf to stem ratio were carried out, in addition to density and dry matter production of weed community. Glyphosate underdoses below 215, 65, and 90 g a.e. ha-1 have a potential to be investigated aiming at the management of P. maximum cv. Atlas, P. maximum cv. Mombasa, and P. maximum cv. Tanzania under intercropping. The three forage species are effective in suppressing weeds.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Imtiaz Ahmad ◽  
María del Mar Jiménez-Gasco ◽  
Dawn S. Luthe ◽  
Mary E. Barbercheck

Fungi in the genus Metarhizium (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae) are insect pathogens that can establish as endophytes and can benefit their host plant. In field experiments, we observed a positive correlation between the prevalence of M. robertsii and legume cover crops, and a negative relationship with brassicaceous cover crops and with increasing proportion of cereal rye in mixtures. Here, we report the effects of endophytic M. robertsii on three cover crop species under greenhouse conditions. We inoculated seeds of Austrian winter pea (Pisum sativum L., AWP), cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), and winter canola (Brassica napus L.) with conidia of M. robertsii to assess the effects of endophytic colonization on cover crop growth. We recovered M. robertsii from 59%, 46%, and 39% of seed-inoculated AWP, cereal rye, and canola plants, respectively. Endophytic M. robertsii significantly increased height and above-ground biomass of AWP and cereal rye but did not affect chlorophyll content of any of the cover crop species. Among inoculated plants from which we recovered M. robertsii, above-ground biomass of AWP was positively correlated with the proportion of colonized root but not leaf tissue sections. Our results suggest that winter cover crops may help to conserve Metarhizium spp. in annual cropping systems.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kangji Li ◽  
Wenping Xue ◽  
Hanping Mao ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
Hui Jiang ◽  
...  

As one of the major production facilities in agriculture, a greenhouse has many spatial distributed factors influencing crop growth and energy consumption, such as temperature field, air flow pattern, CO 2 concentration distribution, etc. By introducing a hybrid computational fluid dynamics–evolutionary algorithm (CFD-EA) method, this paper constructs a micro-climate model of greenhouse with main environmental parameters optimized. Considering environmental factors’ spatial influences together with energy usage simultaneously, the optimal solutions of control variables for crop growth are calculated. A commercial greenhouse located in east China is chosen for the method validation. Field experiments using temperature/velocity sensor matrix are carried out for CFD accuracy investigation. On this basis, the proposed optimization method is employed to search for the optimal control variables and parameters corresponding to the environmental Pareto frontier. By the proposed multi-objective scheme, we believe the method can provide set point basis for the design and regulation of large/medium-sized greenhouse production with high spatial resolution.


1997 ◽  
Vol 87 (12) ◽  
pp. 1226-1232 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Shtienberg

The effects of Rhizopus head rot, caused by Rhizopus oryzae, on the yield of confectionery sunflower and its quality were studied in field experiments conducted from 1994 to 1996. The extent of yield loss was related to the crop growth stage at inoculation. When heads were inoculated at the budding stage, loss was not apparent, because inoculated heads were not infected. When inoculated at the anthesis stage, loss was relatively high (42.5 to 99.1%), and both the number of achenes per head and the individual achene weight were reduced. When heads were inoculated at the seed development stage, yield was not reduced significantly (although the entire receptacle was rotted). Effects of Rhizopus head rot on measures of yield quality were examined as well. Inoculation with R. oryzae did not affect the size of the achenes at any crop growth stage. In contrast, the incidence of discolored achenes (an external sign of nutmeats with a bitter off-flavor) was affected by the disease at all crop growth stages. A survey in eight commercial fields from 1992 to 1996 found that, by the end of the season, incidence of disease ranged from 2.3 to 17.4%. However, since disease intensified late, resultant yield losses were minor and did not exceed 3.1%. Loss figures were estimated by means of a model that was developed and validated in the field experiments. The disease did affect the incidence of discolored achenes. Thus, the conclusion drawn is that the effects of Rhizopus head rot in confectionery sunflower on crop yield is of minimal concern, at least when disease intensifies late, as was the case in the studied fields, but management of the disease should be considered in some situations. The objectives would be to prevent a reduction in yield quality, not yield quantity.


1938 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. W. Russell ◽  
N. P. Mehta

The main conclusions that can be drawn from these field experiments to compare the effect of different methods of preparing the seed bed on the crop's growth are:(1) Crops germinate faster on the looser seed bed prepared by a Rototiller than on the more compact ones prepared by a plough or a grubber. The total number of plants that germinate is, however, the same for all treatments unless the land is too foul with weeds, when higher germination is obtained on the cleaner plots.(2) Cereals tend to ripen a little sooner on land that has been ploughed than on land that has been either rototilled or grubbed, but in most years this effect if present is very small.(3) The shape and the weight of the mangold root seems to depend on the seed bed. The roots were longest and thinnest on the deep-ploughed plots and were always squatter on the shallow-tilled than on the deep-tilled plots. The roots were heaviest on the deep-ploughed plots and lightest on the rototilled plots. On the rototilled and the grubbed plots the depth of tillage had no effect. The plants on the shallow-grubbed plots seemed, however, to have no reserve of strength, for they could not make better growth if given more room, while those on the deep-grubbed plots could make some use and those on the ploughed or rototilled plots appreciable use of extra space.(4) Weeds tend to accumulate on the rototilled and the grubbed plots since neither grubbers nor rotary cultivators carrying tines mounted on a horizontal shaft can bury weeds and weed seeds in the way that the plough can. If the land is fairly clean and in good heart this probably does not matter for several years, but it prevents either of these from completely displacing the plough.(5) A subsidiary result that emerged from these experiments is that if a thin crop is given a nitrogenous top dressing, the fertilizer may benefit the weeds more than the crop.


2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Joy M. Abit ◽  
Kassim Al-Khatib ◽  
Phillip W. Stahlman ◽  
Patrick W. Geier

Conventional grain sorghum is highly susceptible to POST grass control herbicides. Development of aryloxyphenoxypropionate-resistant grain sorghum could provide additional opportunities for POST herbicide grass control in grain sorghum. Field experiments were conducted at Hays and Manhattan, KS, to determine the effect of quizalofop rate and crop growth stage on injury and yield of aryloxyphenoxypropionate-resistant grain sorghum. Quizalofop was applied at 62, 124, 186, and 248 g ai ha−1at sorghum heights of 8 to 10, 15 to 25, and 30 to 38 cm, which corresponded to early POST (EPOST), mid-POST (MPOST), and late POST (LPOST) application timings, respectively. Grain sorghum injury ranged from 0 to 68% at 1 wk after treatment (WAT); by 4 WAT, plants generally recovered from injury. The EPOST and MPOST applications caused 9 to 68% and 2 to 48% injury, respectively, whereas injury from LPOST was 0 to 16%, depending on rate. Crop injury from quizalofop was more prominent at rates higher than the proposed use rate in grain sorghum of 62 g ha−1. Grain yields were similar in treated and nontreated plots; applications of quizalofop at different timings did not reduce yield except when applied MPOST at the Manhattan site.


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