Effects of tillage and weeding frequency on rice performance and soil physical properties
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Date
July 2015
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Abstract
Tillage and weed control are two important inputs that affect rice (Oryza sativa L.) performance
and soil properties. A field study was conducted under rainfed conditions at Nyankpala, located
in the Guinea Savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana to determine the effects of tillage and
weeding frequency on the growth and yield of NERICA 4 rice, and soil physical properties. The
experiment was set up as a split plot design with three tillage practices as main plots, and four
weeding frequencies as sub-plots. Each treatment was replicated three times. The tillage
practices comprised of disc ploughing only, disc ploughing followed by disc harrowing, and no
tillage. The weeding frequencies consisted of weeding with a hand hoe three times, two times,
and one time. The fourth weeding frequency treatment was no weeding. Apart from plant height
and number of leaves per plant, the results indicated significant differences in the growth and
yield of NERICA 4 rice between the different tillage practices. The disc ploughing followed by
disc harrowing treatment produced the tallest plant, highest number of leaves per plant, highest
number of tillers per plant, highest number of panicles, longest panicle, highest panicle weight
and highest number of spikelet‟s per panicle. Similarly, the disc ploughing followed by disc
harrowing treatment presented the highest dry matter yield, highest number of grains per panicle,
highest 1000-grain weight, and highest grain yield. The no tillage treatment gave the lowest
growth and yield performance. There was statistically significant difference in the growth and
yield of NERICA 4 rice between the different weeding frequencies. In general, weeding thrice
resulted in the best growth and yield of NERICA 4 rice. The no weeding treatment recorded the
poorest performance of the crop. Overall, there was no significant difference in soil bulk density,
moisture content, air content and total porosity between the different tillage practices. Similarly,
in general, the results did not show significant difference in soil physical properties between the
different weeding frequencies. Therefore, under the soil and weather conditions of the
experiment, the best tillage practice and weeding frequency identified for NERICA 4 rice
production is disc ploughing followed by disc harrowing, and weeding three times
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Agricultural Engineering in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Agricultural Machinery Engineering, 2015