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Effects of Cultivation on Some Soil Physical Properties and on Potato and Corn Yields¹

ABSTRACT

Field corn and potatoes were cultivated 0 to 3 times and 0 to 5 or 7, respectively for 3 years, to determine the best level of cultivation for each crop. Weeds were controlled with chemicals so that the noncultivated plots were neither hoed nor scraped. One cultivation for corn or one or two for potatoes gave virtually as high yields as any greater number. All amounts of cultivation gave higher yields than none at all.

Excessive cultivation resulted in lower air space and aggregation and higher bulk density though these differences were not always significant. Cultivation and sprayer traffic was shown to result in a generally lower potassium content of potato leaves. This is believed related to the lower air space found under these conditions.

Soil moisture tensions show that some of the benefit from cultivation may result from conservation of moisture. They also indicate that while weeds compete for moisture, this alone does not account for higher yields where weeds are controlled by cultivation.

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agr. Exp. Sta., Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, Department of Soils, New Brunswick, and contributions from the Section of Weed Investigations and the Soil and Water Conservation Research Branch, ARS, U.S.D.A. Presented before Div. I, Soil Science Society of America, St. Paul, Minn., Nov. 9, 1954.

² Assistant research specialist, N. J. Agr. Exp. Station, and cooperative agent, SCS, ARS, U.S.D.A., and Agronomist, Section of Weed Investigations, ARS, U.S.D.A., and assistant research specialist, N. J. Agr. Exp. Sta., respectively. The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of J. C. Campbell, J. C. Anderson, G. D. Brill, and J. A. Vomocil who cooperated in various aspects of these studies.

Received for publication October 1, 1954.