Influence of Integrated Weed Management and Tillage Methods on Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in Maize Production

A two year field experiments were conducted at the College of Agriculture Teaching and Research Farm, Jalingo, Taraba State, Nigeria, to evaluate the integrated use of 25% rates of selected herbicides mixtures (atrazine-pendimethalin (AP1) or primextra (PX1) and cover crops (a vegetable cowpea, "Akidi" (A), Melon (M) and Sweet potato (S) planted sole or mixed at 20,000 stands/ha (1) or 40,000 stands/ha (3) under manual (MT) and tractor tillage (TT) methods used primarily for weed control on soil properties and maize production. The experimental design was a split plot arrangement in a randomized complete block design replicated three times. Tractor Tillage (TT) and Manual Tillage (MT) were the main treatments. The sub treatments included ten integrated weed management (IWM), AP1AI, AP1AS1, AP1S3, AP1MS3, AP1AMS3, PX1A1, PX1AS1, PX1S3, PX1MS3, PX1AMS3 in addition to Weeded 3+6 Weeks After Planting (WAP) (C1) and unweeded(C2) as controls. Descriptive statistics and Analysis of Variance were used to analyze data and the treatment means were compared using standard error at 5%. The level of Na, organic carbon, TN, %clay and %fine sand were higher in MT than TT during the experimental period while Mg, pH, %silt and clay were higher in TT than in MT. Herbicide groups did not significantly influenced soil properties in this study. The Ca2+, K+ and A-VP in all IWM treated plots were higher than the value in C2 . Treatments having Akidi (A1, AS1, AMS3) recorded higher OC than those without (S3, MS3). Therefore, MT improves soil condition and should be used in small scale farming and where TT is used, special consideration of soil type and frequency of use should be moderated. Use of IWM ameliorates fertility losses observed, with preference for mixture with at least a leguminous component.