Proceedings of the Fifth Asian Regional Maize Workshop - Search ...

""*__ 70
em
-:*,__ 70
em
Ridge
RIdge
Ridge
Furrow
Furrow
'-- 150 em -'
Fig. 2.
Ridge culture
2. Non-tillage cultivation:
With the aim of reducing corn grain production costs, in eastern Taiwan non-tillage
cultivation has been practiced after rice is harvested. Results from 2 year-experiments (1988­
19901 revealed that corn yield and net income in non-tillage culture are higher than those in
tillage by 11% and 31%, respectively (Table 2). This is due to the lower percent of lodging
plants and less labor input in the former than those in the latter by 13% and 20%, respectively.
Table 2. Comparison of the differences in grain yield and net income between non-tillage
and tillage cultivation in eastern Taiwan.
1989 1990 Ave. Index
------------------------------------------ ---------------- ---------------
Grain Net Grain Net Grain Net Grain Net
Cultural yield income yield income yield income yield income
method (kg/ha) (US$/ha) (kg/ha) (US$/ha) (kg/ha) (US$/ha) (kg/ha) (US$/ha)
Nontillage 4,180 a 857 a 5,641 a 1,476 a 4,911 a 1,167 a 111 131
Ti 11 age 3,860 a 511 b 4,911 b 1,267 b 4,386 b 889 b 100 100
Means in the same column followed by the same letter do not differ significantly at
0.05% probability level according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT).
3. Two-layer fertilizer application:
The objectives of the two-layer fertilizer application are to simplify and reduce the
labor for fertilizer application. A specially designed machine can sow and apply two-layer
fertilizer on either side of a sowing furrow simultaneously (Lin, et a7., 1988). On one side of
the furrow, fertilizer is placed at 5-10 cm depth to provide the nutrients for early growth
stage, on other side of the furrow the fertilizer is placed at 25-30 cm depth to supply the
nutrients for middle to later growing stages of plant development. The results from field
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