Efecto del tipo de labranza sobre el suministro del agua y el crecimiento del frijol tuy en un suelo mollisol de Venezuela

the cowpea, vigna unguiculata l. walp, is an important crop in venezuela, and is necessary to evaluate different tillage practices to increase its production, and to improve the soil properties. we evaluated the impact of the minimum tillage (mt) and conventional tillage (ct) in the production of dry matter (dm), foliar area (fa), and crop production of cowpea, variety tuy, sowed at 0.5 m between rows and 0.05 m between plants in a mollisol soil of aragua state, in a completelly randomized block desing, with four repetitions, and the impact in the soil water content until 50 cm of depth during the crop cycle (cc), the soil bulk density, macro- and micro-porosity, total soil porosity and soil infi ltration. the analisis of variance and means test (tukey a=10%) was done using the statistical analysis system (sas) program. there was a not signifi cant difference in the pattern of dm production of leaves, stem, total dm, foliar area, and grain yield between mt and ct. the fa of the ct there was only signifi cat higher than in mt at 67 days after emergency. in the soil, there was signifi cant differences bewteen mt and ct in the soil water of the 0-5 cm soil layer, in the total soil porosity of the 30-40 and 40-50 cm soil layers, in the soil bulk density of the 0-5 and 5-10 cm soil layers, and in the soil water content at soil capacity in the 0-5 and 10-20 cm soil layers. there was a signifi cant relationship between the water used or missing during the crop cycle and the total dm produced in mt and ct