Biological responses of barley as affected by soil moisture and cationic balance in Brazil

A.B. Pereira*, R. Domingues, E.F. Caires and J.V. Mattos

State University of Ponta Grossa, Campus of Uvaranas, 4748 Carlos Cavalcanti Avenue, BR 84030-900, State of Paraná, Brazil
*Correspondence: doctorpeartree023@gmail.com

Abstract:

Control of water in the soil-plant-atmosphere system is vital to assure maximization of crop yield. Nutrients uptake by the plants is considerably affected by soil moisture mainly because mineral nutrients reach out for roots as a function of mass flux and diffusion. Soil cationic balance might impinge upon calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) uptake by the plant roots. In light of the hypothesis that soil Ca:Mg ratio more suitable for agricultural crops hinges upon soil moisture, the current research aimed to study interrelationships between soil moisture status and cationic balance in soil on biological responsiveness of barley plants. The experiment was conducted in a protected environment and a randomized complete block design was used with three replicates arranged in a 4×4 factorial scheme. Soil water treatments imposed herein were defined as a function of four fractions of maximum crop evapotranspiration (ETm): 60, 80, 100, and 120% ETm along with four ratios between calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg): 1:1, 3:1, 6:1, and 9:1. The parameters evaluated were: plant height, number of tillers, number of ears per plant, number of grains per ear, number of grains per plant, grain weight per plant, and thousand-grain weight. Soil cationic balance did not impinge upon agronomic performance of barley crop, whereas all of response-variables evaluated were highly governed by soil water availability. Conversely, the most adequate soil Ca:Mg ratio to promote the best biological responsiveness of barley grown under a protected environment did not depend on soil moisture levels.

Key words:

grain yield, Hordeum vulgare L., soil Ca:Mg ratio, soil fertility, soil humidity

Changes the content of organic matter in soil during the whole cycle of crop rotation

E. Ilumäe*, E. Akk, A. Hansson and V. Kastanje

Estonian Research Institute of Agriculture, 13 Teaduse St. 75501 Saku, Estonia;
*Corresponding author; e-mail: ene.ilumäe@eria.ee

Abstract:

The ecological crop rotation in the present trial has been established as a 10-field rotation. The crop sequence was based on calculation of how much of the nutrients does one or another crop take from the soil and how much will be left in the soil after yield harvesting. The crop sequence in ecological crop rotation was: spring wheat, barley with undersown clover, clover, clover, potato, oat, pea, barley with undersown clover, spring turnip rape. The field experiments were carried out in northem Estonia during 2003–2008.After having analyzed the soil organic matter content throughout all the fields of croprotation it became evident that the alterations of organic matter content in soil were dissimilar. The alterations of organic matter content in all fields were in linear correlation (r 95 higher than 0.549, number of pairs 10). Although more than a half rotation has already passed after the beginning of the trial the results are still probably affected by the number of times the clover has been grown on any particular field.

Key words: