The study was undertaken as a part of the research program of the Agricultural Engineering Department of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station to determine a method of planting corn in a vegetative residue mulch seedbed which would result in stand and yields as good as obtained in planting in a conventionally prepared seedbed.
Yields obtained in the first experiments in Virginia were very low because methods used in preparing the mulch seedbed, which had proven successful in other locations in the United States, proved unsuited in that they did not kill the perennials and legumes in the vegetative residue. This factor was overcome in 1947 when the “double-cut plow” was introduced for preparing the residue mulch seedbed. However, the initial stands and yields were still not as good as for corn grown on a mulch seedbed in experiments conducted since that time.
This experiment was conducted on eight main plots. Mulch seedbeds were prepared on four of the plots using the “double-cut plow” method, and on the other four the seedbeds were prepared by the conventional turn-plow method. The plots were arranged to conform to a randomised split-plot design.
Six planting methods were devised by modifying a conventional two-row, tractor-mounted corn planter with fertilizer attachment. The plots were planted, using six treatments randomized in each of the eight plots, on May 10, under fair conditions. The performance of the planting equipment was good except in the planting of the first three plots in treatment P3, the first treatment planted.
Stand counts and apparent vigor data were taken before each of the three cultivations. A stand count, without apparent vigor observations, was taken just prior to silking.
A study was made at the time of the initial stand count in an effort to determine the causes of germination failures of seed planted.
An application of 500 pounds of nitrate of soda as a side dressing was made at the time of the second cultivation. Commercial 4-12-4 fertilizer was applied to the corn at planting at a rate of 500 pounds per acre. The second plowing was delayed because of rain and resulted in weed growth in the rows. These weeds were head out just prior to the silking period.
Silking dates of the corn, as an index of maturity, were determined for each planting and seedbed preparation treatment.
The samples for yield were gathered in early October and placed in an artificial drier. They were shelled and weighed, and yield data were recorded in mid-October. The general condition of the harvested grain was good. There was almost a total absence of lodging when the harvest was made.
The most successful, in providing initial stands and yields of grain, were those planting treatments in which mechanical means were used for pushing the mulch aside in the path of the planter.
Glods, in the mulch plots where mechanical means were not employed to push the vegetative residue mulch layer away from the path of the planter, were found to interfere with young plants coming to the surface.
Results of this study indicate that corn grown in a residue mulch seedbed was at a slight disadvantage in apparent vigor during the early part of the growing season, but at no appreciable disadvantage in maturing. The data did show that there was a larger loss in stand in mulch plots than in check.
While the statistical analysis of variance of the initial stand count and yield data showed no significant differences, the variations did indicate definite trends. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41269 |
| Date | 23 February 2010 |
| Creators | Seckinger, Charles Bernard |
| Contributors | Agricultural Engineering |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | 57 leaves, BTD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | OCLC# 24663280, LD5655.V855_1951.S424.pdf |
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