Effect of forage peanut (arachis pintoi krap. & greg.) as cover crop on the germination and seedling growth of corn (zea mays L.)

Date

4-1998

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture

Major Course

Major in Agronomy

College

College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Arturo A. Gomez

Abstract

Cover crops specially the creeping type like A. pintoi are effective living mulch which suppress weed growth and reduce evaporational water loss. Basic information on some possible effects of the cover crop on the performance of the main crop, however, must be generates, thus, a field experiment was conducted to determine the effect of Arachis pintoi as cover crop seed germination and seedling growth of corn. The cover crop was established in the field and allowed to attain varying levels of soil cover prior to the planting of the main crop.

The results show that the longer the cover crop was established in the field before planting the main crop the higher was the nitrogen concentration and moisture content of the soil. Changes in soil pH during the establishment of the cover crop were not large enough to adversely affect the performance of the main crop.

Percentage seed germination was highest in plots with8-week old cover crop. The lowest was noted in plots without cover crop and fertilized with inorganic fertilizer. This probably attributed to the chemical effect of the fertilizer which was aggravated by inadequate soil moisture during seed germination.

Seedling growth in plots with cover crop particularly those with 8-weeks old. A. pintoi was poor compared to those grown in plots without cover crop. This observation was not clearly understood.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 993.5 1998 A42 R63

Document Type

Thesis

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS