Quantification of the effects of agricultural machinery traffic on soil and sunflower yields (Helianthus annuus L.)

Seeds germination and crop productions depend mostly on the planting methods used, initial soil mechanical conditions and soil moisture. The main objective of this work was to quantify the agricultural traffic effects on soil compaction, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seed emergence and yield unde...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Botta, Guido Fernando, Romay, Catalina, Rivero, Ezequiel Ricardo David, Ezquerra Canalejo, Alejandra, Ghelfi, Diego Gabriel, Hidalgo, Ramón Jesús
Format: Online
Language:spa
Published: Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias 2024
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Online Access:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/agris/article/view/40953
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Summary:Seeds germination and crop productions depend mostly on the planting methods used, initial soil mechanical conditions and soil moisture. The main objective of this work was to quantify the agricultural traffic effects on soil compaction, sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seed emergence and yield under two different soil mechanical conditions: No-tillage (NT) and conventional tillage (CT). The trial was located in the western Pampas region during three cropping seasons on an Entic Hapludoll. The parameters measured were: (1) seed emergence, (2) dry bulk density, (3) cone index, (4) water infiltration and (5) crop yields. The main results showed that the emergence was 17.3 % earlier in LC than in NL and the cone index and bulk density values were lower for the CT up to 450 mm. The average yields for the 3 cropping seasons were 3.23 tons ha-1 and 1.99 tons ha-1 for CT and NT, respectively. The main conclusion is that the soil worked under CT is a soil with a low compaction level up to 150 mm. This, in turn, led to a higher plant emergence count and to a more uniform crop establishment and distribution than in the soil worked under NT.