Section 3 (Crop Management)

Tillage practices in corn
Tillage x fertilizer trial
On-farm trials conducted in Brgys. Mangarin and Mabini, San Jose, Mindoro Occidental tested zero
tillage and conventional tillage against farmers’ tillage practice for yellow corn (var C 818) in
combination with different fertilizers levels.
In zero tillage, rice stubbles and newly grown weeds are evenly sprayed with POWER TM herbicide at
the rate of 6 – 8 li ha -1 . Planting was done a day after herbicide application in the traditional method using
a pointed wood called “bugsok” (Figure 1). If the soil is hard, the field is flooded two to three days before
spraying herbicide. For farmers’ tillage, one to two plowing and one harrowing are made to prepare the
land. Seeds are planted at a rate of one seed per hill (70 cm x 20 cm spacing) also using the “bugsok”
method of planting. In conventional tillage, land is thoroughly prepared with two passes of tractor-drawn
plow and two times harrowing using a hand tractor or animal-drawn harrow. Seeds are planted using
“farmalite” (manual corn seed planter) at a rate of one seed per hill, with 70 x 20 cm spacing (Figure 2).
The two fertilizer levels used in combination with the three tillage practices were: F1 - 600 kg ha -1
ammosul and F2 - 300 kg ha -1 ammosul + 1 kg ha -1 BIO-N. First fertilizer application of ammosul was
done 15-20 DAP at 300 kg ha -1 for F1 and 150 kg ha for F2. Second application was at 45 DAP using the
same amount of ammosul.
BIO-N is a microbial-based fertilizer for rice and corn. It is mainly composed of microorganisms that
can convert the nitrogen from the air into ammonia, and replaces up to 75 percent of the total amount of
nitrogen requirement of rice and corn.
Tillage x variety trial
The on-farm tillage x variety trial was done in the municipality of Barangay Sibao, Calabanga,
Camarines Sur. Five farmer-partners were involved in the trial. Tillage management were tested in
combination with different corn hybrid varieties. Conservation tillage, minimum tillage, and farmer’s
tillage were the three-tillage practices tested. Varieties include IPB 929, Pioneer 3013 and Cargill 818
applied with 300 kg ha –1 . Organic Fertilizer + 200 kg ha –1 Complete + 100 kg ha -1 Ammophos + 150 kg
ha -1 Urea + 250 kg ha -1 lime.
Similar to the other trials, with zero tillage six to eight liters POWER TM herbicide was applied
followed by one light pass of furrow (slit) a day after herbicide application. A 70 cm x 20 cm planting
distance at one seed per hill was also adopted. On the other hand, in the case of minimum tillage one
plowing and harrowing was done followed by application of four liters per hectare of POWER TM
herbicide10 to 14 days before planting. Likewise, furrowing was done one day after herbicide application
to facilitate planting of corn seeds. A 70 cm x 20 cm planting distance (one seed per hill) was used. For
farmer’s tillage land preparation starts with two plowing and two harrowing followed by furrowing,
hilling up or cultivation and row weeding.
Results and Discussion
Mindoro Occidental
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for grain yield obtained by four farmer-partners in testing the
performance of Cargill 818 under three tillage practices and two levels of fertilizer is presented in Table
1. The table reveals that variation in grain yield was due to the tillage practices employed and not to the
levels of fertilizer or the interaction between the two treatments.
Mean grain yield under tillage practices (Table 2) show that the use of zero tillage produced the
highest grain yield of about 5.20 t ha -1 followed by the conventional tillage with 5.17 t ha -1 . Farmer’s
tillage practice on the other hand ranks last with only 4.08 t ha -1 .
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