Effects of preparation systems on the physical properties and on the corn crop in a soil under "cerrado" vegetation

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to assess the effects of soil preparation methods (with or without subsoiling) on physical properties of a "cerrado soil" cropped to corn during the 1986/87 season, in the Selvíria county (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil). Also, the objective of this was to check the changes in the soil (dark red latosol-Acrustox) caused by the preparation after nine years of cultivation in comparison with natural state. The experiment consisted of six soil preparation systems: conventional, superpreparation, reversed, revolving hoe, reduced and no-tillage. Along with these systems subsoiling was also tested. The reversed system showed the best corn grain yield. Subsoiling only presented positive results in productivity with the no-tillage system. All the preparation system tested degraded the physical properties in comparison with the natural soil.