:Effect of irrigation and tillage on water productivity and soil health in maize-wheat sequence under zero budget natural farming systems
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Date
2021-12-30
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Palampur
Abstract
The present study was conducted at experimental farm of Department of Organic Agriculture and
Natural Farming, CSK HPKV, Palampur, during the year 2018-20 in maize -wheat cropping sequence
with the objectives of evaluating the effect of irrigation and tillage under zero budget natural farming
systems on soil and plant water content, total water use and water productivity, plant shoot and root
growth and crop productivity and soil nutrient status, hydro-physical properties and microbial
biomass. The treatments comprised of, T1: No irrigation to maize and 6 cm irrigation to wheat grown
with conventional tillage and ZBNF, T2: No irrigation to maize and 4 cm irrigation to wheat grown
with conventional tillage and ZBNF, T3: No irrigation to maize and 2 cm irrigation to wheat grown
with conventional tillage and ZBNF, T4: No irrigation to maize and wheat grown with conventional
tillage and ZBNF, T5: No irrigation to maize and wheat grown with minimum tillage + lantana mulch
and ZBNF, T6: No irrigation to maize + soybean and 6 cm irrigation to wheat + gram gown with
conventional tillage grown and ZBNF, T7: No irrigation to maize + soybean and wheat + gram grown
with minimum tillage + lantana mulch and ZBNF, T8: No irrigation to maize and 6 cm irrigation to
wheat grown with conventional tillage and organic farming and T9: No irrigation to maize and 6 cm
irrigation to wheat grown with conventional tillage and no manure application (Absolute control)
were imposed in a randomized block design replicated four times. The results indicated that the
treatments of minimum tillage with mulch with (T7) or without (T5) intercropping of soybean/ gram
resulted in higher soil and relative leaf water content, improved shoot and root growth and higher
crop and water productivity with higher nutrient uptake in comparison to the conventional tillage and
no mulch under rainfed conditions. Further, the treatments with 6 cm irrigation applied (T1, T6, T8)
in wheat resulted in higher soil and relative leaf water content in comparison to the treatments of
minimum tillage with mulch (T5 and T7). The treatments of minimum tillage with mulch (T5 and T7)
resulted in increase in organic carbon, improvement in hydro-physical properties and increased
microbial count in comparison to the conventional tillage and no mulch. The study concluded that the
treatments of minimum tillage with mulch with or without intercropping of soybean/ gram resulted in
higher crop and water productivity compared to conventional tillage with no mulch under ZBNF
systems.