American Research Journal of Agriculture

Field experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of reduced tillage methods on soil properties and maize performance on Ultisol and Glysol of Kogi State. The sites of the experiments were on ultisol at the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority, Ejiba anda glysol at AhmaduBello University,Division of Agricultural Colleges, College of Agriculture, Kabba. Treatment consisted of five tillage methods namely; Zero Tillage(ZT), Mannual Tillage (MT), Plough Alone (PA), Plough +Harrow (PH), and Plough +Harrow + Ridge(PHR). The treatments were replicated three times. Soil physical properties such as bulk density, porosity, moisture content, temperature, macro and micro porosity and chemical properties such as soil pH, Organic matter, N, P,K,Ca,Mg, CEC and Base Saturationwere examined before and at the end of the experiment.Maize growth parameters (stem girth, leaf area and plant height) were collected at two weeks interval.Days to 50% tasseling were taken. Yield parameters (seed weight, 1000seed weight,number of seed per cob and seed yield t/ha) were collected at harvest. Leaf tissue analysis was carried out on leaves collected at tasseling to determine leaf nutrient. The results showed that tillage significantly (P<0.05) influence soil physical properties, soil organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, stem girth, leaf area, plant height, days to 50% tasselling and maize yield and leaf nutrient content in both soils. Plots treated with manual tillage recorded better performance in soil physical condition. However growth and yield of maize were better in plots treated with conventional tillage i.e. plough+Harrow and Plough+Harrow+Ridge.It is therefore recommended that seed bed preparation for maize production should be done with conventional tillage (Plough+ Harrow or Plough + Harrow+ Ridge). However, to reduce cost of seed bed preparation, Plough+ Harrow should be adopted in the study area.