Draft power requirement, soil mobilization in sowing lines and soybean yield in no‑tillage

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the draft power (FT) in the fertilizer furrow-opener and the volume of mobilized soil in the sowing line as affected by the amount of residues, tractor traffic and furrow-opening working depth, and its influence on soybean agronomic performance. Treatments consisted of six residue dosages (DR), two fertilizer furrow-opener working depths (PT) and two soil traffic conditions – with and without tractor traffic – carried out in a randomized block design, in a split-split-plot scheme. The treatments were applied with or without irrigation under no-tillage on a Rhodic Paleudult soil. The different PT and tractor traffic conditions influenced FT significantly. Regardless of the irrigation conditions, DR treatments did not affect soybean grain yield and shoot dry matter weight. In the absence of irrigation, soybean productivity increased by 180 kg ha-1 when PT was changed from 0,064 to 0,10 m, which indicates fertilizer furrow-opener at greater depths as a viable practice to decrease the effects of drought on crop.