Download or read book Soil-plant-water Relationships as Influenced by Various Soil and Plant Management Practices on Campo Cerrado Soils in the Central Plateau of Brazil written by Dale Eugene Bandy and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Short term drought periods during the rainy season, low soil water storage capacity, and highly acidic soils 80% Al sat. which inhibit root growth all give a combined effect of limiting yields for most crops in the Central Cerrado of Brazil. With those problems in mind, experiments were conducted in Brazil for two years to study the effect of a veranico (drought) on corn (Zea mays L.) growth and yield. The experiment were designed to provide a drought avoidance for the corn plant. In one experiment, soil management techniques were used to allow a crop to tap a greater quantity of the soil water stored in the soil. A second experiment used crop management techniques to increase water use efficiency by decreasing water loss from the soil surface and from the cornleaf. The soil management experiment consistent basically of lime rates and depths of line incorporation, i.e. 0-lime, 8T/ha lime incorporated to a 15 cm depth and 8T/ha lime incorporated to a 30 cm depth, and a broadcast verses banding application of phosphorus. Without plant water stress, no depth of lime effect was noted on plant growth before the tasseling stage. From silking to grain maturity, the deep limed plants maintained a longer period of active plant growth by delaying leaf senescence. The unlimed corn plants were always inferior to the limed plants with the dry-cool season crop showing a more pronunced decrease in plant growth. Measurements taken during an actual veranico or a simulated veranico showed that deep liming had a large effect (...).