Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2017
Three tractor cultivations that severely pruned the root systems of hand-weeded plots of sweet corn [Zea mays L. var. rugosa Bonaf., Iochief] grown on a Codorus-Elkton silt loam under extreme drought conditions did not reduce the yield of marketable ears when irrigation totalling 2 acre-inches was applied during pollination and ear-filling. Pre-emergence application of 2-chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-(isopropylamino)-s-triazine [atrazine] to the soil surface without cultivation reduced brace root growth and yields significantly in the year of most severe drought. These effects of atrazine were avoided when the herbicide treatments were supplemented with tractor cultivations that covered the brace root zone of the corn plants with soil.