ARS | Publication request: TILLAGE AND WHEEL TRAFFIC EFFECTS ON CORN GROWTH AND YIELD

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 8, 1996
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Controlled wheel traffic is one way to manage compaction in no-till and ridge-till systems. This study was conducted for 3 years on a Webster silty clay loam (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Haplaquoll) to examine the effect of wheel traffic pattern on corn shoot growth and yield in no-till, ridge-till, and chisel-plow tillage systems. The wheel traffic pattern was configured so that some rows would have wheel tracks directly over the row, on both sides, on one side, or on neither side. An axle load of 9.0 MT was applied each spring. Bulk density, shoot dry weight, and yield were measured for each of the rows. In general, the effect of tillage systems on yield was not significant averaged across rows. Position of rows relative to the traffic pattern had an effect on all measured parameters. Bulk density was greatest in trafficked interrows (1.36 Mg m**-3) and least in untrafficked interrows (1.09 Mg m**-3). Yields of rows planted into wheel tracks were reduced by more than 1.5 MT ha**-1, and yields of rows with wheel tracks on one side were reduced as much as 8 MT ha**-1 in some years as compared with rows without wheel tracks on either side.