Effect of different tillage and residue management practices on growth and yield of corn cultivation in Thailand

The tillage and residue management during soil bed preparation need to be in appropriate manner for sustainable farming practice. The effects of tillage and residue management methods on corn cropping were studied on loamy soil in Bangrakum district, Phitsanulok Province, Thailand. The effects of five commonly used tillage methods: subsoiler tillage (ST), three methods of conventional tillage (CT1, CT2 and CT3), no-tillage (NT), as main factors and two corn residue management methods; burned (R1) and unburned (R2), as sub-factors were studied in a randomized strip plot configuration. Tillage treatment showed significant effect on physical and chemical soil properties, plant growth and development, grain yield, total aboveground biomass and most importantly the weed emergence and density, while the two crop residue management methods did not show significant differences. The improvement in plant development and grain production was found to be due to the increased tilled depth and thus the ST was the most effective tillage method for improving soil physical properties and to increase corn production; corn growth, biomass and grain yield. ST showed higher total grain yield than CT1, CT2, CT3 and NT approximately 35%, 101%, 88%, 216%, respectively. It could be concluded that ST as the best and sustainable method of soil management for corn cropping while having typical weeding and fertilization practices.