Effect Of Some Seedbed Preparation Practices And Fertilization On Growth And Yield Of Maize:

Mohamed Ali Hassan Mohamed

Two field experiments were carried out at the AgriculturalResearch and Experiment center of the Faculty of Agriculture atMoshtohor, Kalubia Governorate, Zagazig University during 1995 and1996 seasons to study the effect of seedbed preparation and biologicalfertilizer treatments on chemical and biological properties of soil, growthcharacters, yield and its components of maize cultivar single cross 128.The soil was clay loam with pH 7.7. Each experiment included thecombination of five seedbed preparation treatments and four treatmentsof biological fertilizer. The design of the experiment was split plot designwith four replications. The treatments were as follows:A -Seedbed preparation:I-Zero tillage or no-tillage.2-Chisel plow (once) alone.3-Chisel plow (twice).4-Moldboard plow (once) alone.5-Moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once).B-Biological fertilizer treatments:I-Control: without application of agrispon or cerialin.2-Foliar application of agrispon. Spraying was carried out once, 45 daysfrom planting.3.Bacterial inoculation. Nrfixing bacteria i.e cerialin (Azospirillumlipoferum strain).4-Spraying of agrispon + inoculation of cerialin.The important results of this study could be summarized as follows:I-Chemical and bllllgical prlPerlles ., SillA-Effect of seedbed preparation:I-pH value was not affected by seedbed preparation treatments inboth seasons.2-The salinity values were markedly lower with moldboard plow(once) as well as moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once)compared with no- tillage.3-The mean values of organic matter, total nitrogen, totalphosphorus, avialable nitrogen and phosphorus were increasedby plowing the soil either by chisel or moldboard plow in bothseason. Moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once) gave thehighest values of the above characters.4-Moldboard plow alone or with chisel plow gave the maximumnumber ofazospirilla followed by chisel plow (twice) and chiselplow (once).B-Effect of biological fertilizer:I-pH and E.C. values did not differ under different biologicalfertilizer treatments.2-0rganic matter and total nitrogen in the soil increased by bacterialinoculation or foliar appplication of agrispon.3-Foliar application of agrispon gave the highest values of availablenitrogen and phosphorus in the soil in the first season, whereas inthe second season, foliar application of agrispon + bacterialinoculation gave the highest ones.4-Biological fertilizers under study caused an increase in number ofazospirilla in the two growing season. The highest azospirilla countswas obtained from biological inoculation with foliar application ofagrispon. There was no difference in azospirilla counts betweenbacterial inoculation alone or with agrispon treatments in bothseasons.”-E-8I1IDCI perceDtag. aDdlltal weldsA-Effect of seedbed preparation:l-The Emergence percentage was significantly increased by usingseedbed preparation treatments. The highest percentage of plantswas obtained after moldboard plow (once) + chisal plow (once),while the lowest one was obtained after no-tillage.2-All seedbed preparation treatments under study were significantlysuperior in depressing weed growth compared with no-tillagetreatment. The best tillage system in reducing fresh and dryweight of weeds were moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow(once) and moldboard plow (once) alone.B-Effect of biological fertilizers:’l-Fresh and dry weight of weeds were not significantly influencedby foliar application of agrispon or bacterial inoculation atdifferent growth periods in both seasons.C-Interaction .effect:1-The effect of the interaction between seedbed preparation andbiological fertilizer was not significant for fresh and dry weightof weeds at different periods of plant growth in both seasonsexcept fresh weight of weeds at 60 days from sowing in the firstseason.2-Foliar application of agrlspon + bacterial inoculation aftermoldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once) reduced freshweight of weeds.III-Growth charactersA-Effect of seedbed preparations:I-Plant height and stem diameter at 60, 75 and 90 days from sowingwere significantly increased by different seedbed preparationtreatments as compared to no-tillage in both seasons. moldboardplow (once) + chisel plow once gave the tallest plants andmaximum values of stem diameter at different growth periods ofplant.2-There were significant differences between the mean values ofnumber of leaves! plant of the five seedbed preparation treatmentsat 60 , 7S and 90 days from planting. Moldboard plow (once) +chisel plow (once) treatment gave the highest number of leaves Iplant at 60, 75 and 90 days from planting, whereas, the lowestones were produced after no-tillage treatment at the respectivesampling dates.3-Ear height was significantly increased by plowing and moldboardplow (once) + chisel plow (once) gave the highest value of earheight.4-Fresh and dry weight of maize plant organs were significantlyinfluenced by seedbed preparation at 60 and 90 days from sowingin the two growing seasons. The highest fresh and dry weight ofleaves, stem + sheeths + tassel and ear were obtained bymoldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once).S-Leaf area of the topmost ear was significantly increased by usingseedbed preparation in both seasons. Moldboard plow (once) +chisel plow (once) gave the highest leaf area of the topmost ear.B-Effect of biological fertilizers:l-Foliar application of agrispon and bacterial inoculation did notsignificantly affect plant height, number of leaves per plant andstem diameter at 60,75 and 90 days from swoing, ear height at 75and 90 days from sowing, fresh and dry weight of stem + sheaths+ tassel at 60 and 90 days from sowing, fresh and dry weight ofear per plant at 90 days from sowing .2-Fresh weight of leaves per plant at 60 and 90 days from sowingwere significantly increased by agrispon, bacterial inoculation andthe combination of them compared to the control treatment inboth seasons also, biological fertilizer treatments significantlyincreased the dry weight of leaves per plant at 60 days fromsowing in the first season only. Foliar application of agrispon +bacterial inoculation gave the maximum weight of leaves perplant at the different periods of plant growth.3- Leaf area of the topmost ear. was not significantly affected bybiological fertilizers in the two growing seasons.C-Interaction effect:I-The effect of interaction between seedbed preparation andbiological fertilizer treatments was not significant for all studiedcharacters of growth except ear height at 75 days from sowingand dry weight of stem + sheaths + tassel per plant at 60 daysfrom sowing in the first season only.2-Foliar application of agrispon after moldboardplow (once) + chiselplow (once) gave the highest values of ear height at 75 days fromsowing and dry weight of stem + sheaths + tassel per plant at 60days from sowing.IV- PIlIIOsvnthlsls alllDantsA-Effect of seedbed preparation:. 1- Seedbed preparation practices had no significant effect on allphotosynthesis pigments in ear leaf in both seasons exceptchlorophyll ”b” which was significantly increased by usingmoldboard plow or chisel plow alone or together as compared withno-tillage in the second season only.B-Effect of biological fertilizer:I-Chlorophyll ”a”, ”b” and ”a+b” were not significantly affected bybiological fertilizers in both seasons.2-The highest values of carotenoids content was produced fromagrispon spraying with bacterial inoculation in the first seasononly.V-FI.lrlII an.’lrdlllV ol.alZe plantsA-Effect 0/ seedbed preparation:I-Seedbed preparation caused a significant decrease in the time to 50%tasseling and silking in one season out of two.2-Barren plants percentage and the percentage of plants carrying one earwere significantly decreased by seedbed preparation in 1995 and 1996seasons. The lowest percentages were produced with moldboard plow(once) + chisel plow (once) .3-The percentage of plants carrying more than one ear was significantlyincreased by using seedbed preparation in both seasons.B-Effect of biological fertilizers:l-Biological fertilizer (foliar application of agnspon or bacterialinoculation) had no significant effect on tasseling and silking dates,percentage of barren plants, percentage of plants carrying one ear andmore than one ear.” IV-Yieldand Its elm.lnentsA-Effect of seedbed preparation:I-Ea””r length, ear diameter, number of rows per ear, number of grains perrow and per ear, ear weight, grain weigh per ear, 100 grain weight,shelling percentage, ear yield, grain yield and straw yield per feddanwere significantly increased by using seedbed preparation in bothseasons.2-Moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once) was superior to the othertreatments of seedbed preparation in increasing the yield and its,” components of maize.3-The treatments of chisel plow (once), chisel plow (twice), moldboardplow (once) and moldboard plow (once) + chisel plow (once)increased the yield of ear per feddan by 3.50, 20.23, 16.43 and 35.39%, respectively, over the control treatment (no-tillage) in the firstseason.The corresponding increases in ear yield in the second seasonwere 5.33, 16.66,23.88 and 33.16% , respectively.B-Effect of biological fertilizers:l-Ear length, ear diameter, ear weight, grain weight, 100 - grain weightand shelling percentage were not significantly affected by biologicalfertilizers in the two growing seasons.2-There was a significant effect of the applied agrispon spraying andbacterial inoculation on the mean values of number of rows / ear,number of grains per row and per ear, ear yield, grain yield andstraw yield per feddan in one season only.3-The greatest yields of ear, grain and straw per feddan were producedwith bacterial inoculation + foliar application of agrispon.C-Interaction .effect:l-The effect of interaction between seedbed preparation and biological.fertilizer treatments on all yield components, ear and grain yield perfeddan were not significant in the two seasons. whereas, straw yieldper feddan was significantly affected by the interaction betweenseedbed preparation and biological fertilizer in the first season only .2-Bacterial inoculation alone or with foliar application af agrispon aftermoldboard plow (once)+ chisel plow (once) gave the maxium yieldof maize.11-Simple clrreladDnI-The association between time of tasseling or time of silking and eachof plant height, ear height, number of leaves / plant, stem diameterand leaf area was negative and highly significant in both seasons.2-Positive and highly significant correlations were detected betweengrain weight/ear and each of plant height, ear height, number ofleaves/plant, stem diameter, leaf area, total chlorophyll, ear length,ear diameter, number of grains per ear and ear weight. On the otherhand negative and highly significant correlation was obtainedbetween grain weight/ear and each of time of tasseling and time ofsilking.3-100-grain weight was positively and significantly correlated with eachof plant height, ear height, number of leaves/plant, stem diameter,leaf area, total chlorophyll, ear lenght, ear diameter, number ofgrains/ear, ear weight and grain weight/ear.4-Significant positive correlations were found between grain yield!feddan and each of plant height, ear height, number of leaves/plant,lear area, total chlorophyll, ear length, ear diameter, number ofgrains/ear, ear weight, grain weight I ear, 100- grain weight, shellingpercentage, ear yield and straw yield/feddan. whereas, highlysignificant negative phenotypic correlation coefficient was foundbetween grain yield/feddan and each of number of days to 500/0tasseling and silking.5-It could be concluded that the grain yield was positively associated withyield compontents of maize as affected by the interaction betweenseedbed preparation and biological fertilizers under study.