Research Concerning the Influence of Soil Tillage Systems on Weeds Control and Corn Hybrids Yield Cultivated in Southeastern Romania

Abstract The paper presents the yield results obtained in 2017 for the corn crop grown in the soil and climate conditions of Southern Romania (Calarasi county). The purpose of the research was to analyze the behavior and yield of a range of corn hybrids from different FAO groups: DKC 4590 (FAO 350), PP9911 (FAO 410) and Olt (FAO 430) under different soil tillage systems. The conventional tillage system applied was plowing at 20 and 30 cm, while scarifying at 30 and 40 cm and Tiger 3 MT at 20 and 30 cm were used for the minimum tillage system. The average yield of the three hybrids analyzed was 8,130.3 kg/ha in the conventional tillage system (plowing at 20 and 30 cm) with mechanical weeding, while for the conventional tillage system without mechanical weeding the yield was 7,682.2 kg/ha. The minimum tillage variants (scarifying and Tiger 3 MT) recorded an average yield of 6,746.4 kg/ha when mechanical weeding was applied and 6,474.9 kg/ha for the variants without mechanical weeding. Regarding the degree of weeding by tillage system, in the conventional tillage system (plowing at 20 and 30 cm) with mechanical weeding the number of weeds was 4.2 plants/m2 and 9.3 plants/m2 for the variants without mechanical weeding. The minimum tillage variants (scarifying and Tiger 3 MT) recorded 12.8 weeds/m2 when mechanical weeding was applied and 16.2 weeds/m2 for the variants without mechanical weeding.