Studying the Soil Properties and Root Growth of Corn under Different Combination of Soil Bulk Densities

Abstract

Research study was conducted on different level of bulk density combination in green house at NSDL –ARS – USDA, Auburn, Alabama, USA, on corn. The main objectives of this study were to find the impact of bulk density on corn root growth and different soil properties under sandy loam soil condition. In this research, total twenty seven (27) treatments and three replications were used under complete randomized design. The treatments included were AAA, AAB, ABA, ABB, AAC, ACA, ACC, ABC, ACB, BBB, BBA, BAB, BAA, BBC, BCB, BCC, BAC, BCA, CCC, CCA, CAC, CAA, CCB, CBC, CBB, CAB, and CBA. Corn was planted in a pot for about 40 days. The data were collected for different parameters i.e. corn root growth, Soil moisture content retain in the pot (%), retention of soil in the pot, Evapo-transpiration from soil surface. Mean highest depletion of soil 10.86 and 9.90 cm occurred in treatments AAA and AAB respectively; while the mean lowest depletion of soil 0.01,0.04, and 0.08 cm were recorded in  treatments CCC, CCB and CBC respectively. Mean highest total amount of Evapo-transpiration was recorded 59.19% in treatment AAB and the mean lowest total amount of evapo-transpiration was noted 19.36% in CCC treatment. At Depths –I, II and III, Mean highest root length of 89.41, 104.05 and 142.87 m were noted in treatments AAC, BAC and ABA; dry root weight of 5.27, 2.39, and 2.78 g were observed in treatments AAC, AAA and BCA respectively; while the mean lowest root length of 1.27, 25.55  m was recorded in treatment AAA at depth I and II and 10.79 m was in CCC at depth III respectively; and the mean lowest dry root weight of 0.17 g was in treatment AAA at depth I, and 0.10 and 0.06 g were recorded in treatments CBC at depth II and III respectively. Keywords: Corn, Root Growth, Dry Root Weight, Soil Evapo-transpiration, Root Growth