Effect of residue management tillage and irrigation on water balance of direct seeded rice and wheat
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Date
2019
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Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Adoption of proper tillage and residue management practices are must for sustaining soil and
crop productivity. Residue retention or incorporation with proper irrigation scheduling improves soil water
storage, soil physical characteristics and crop productivity. However, the tillage and residue management
practices are very site specific. Therefore, field experimets were conducted during rabi 2015-16 and 2016-
17 and kharif 2016 and 2017. Wheat was sown with three residue management tillage systems (residue
incorporation, residue standing and residue removal) under flood and drip irrigation. Rice seeds were
directly sown in previously established main plots of residue management tillage (same as in wheat) and
further wheat residue incorporation and removal in sub-plots along with flood and drip irrigation. The data
indicated that during 2015-16 and 2016-17, all growth attributes of wheat i.e., plant height, leaf area index
(LAI) and dry matter accumulation (DMA) were highest in reisdue incorporation with drip iriigation. The
yield attributes i.e., grain yield and biological yield were also highest in residue incorporation with drip
irrigation (RI+D) and lowest in residue removal with flood irrigation (RR+F). During 2015-16 and 2016-
17, maximum amount of irrigation water was received by RR+F (29.76 and 29.07 cm) and lowest amount
of irrigation water was received by RI+D (20.51 and 19.66 cm). Maximum soil water contribution to wheat
crop was also observed from RI+D. Irrespective of irrigation treatments, residue incorporation also resulted
in 2.65% lower bulk density and 11.67% higher saturated hydraulic conductivity at 0-7.5 cm soil depth and
28.57% higher final infiltration rate, 41.46% higher mean weight diameter and 29.03% higher organic
carbon as compared residue removal treatment after 2 years. Crop water productivity was significantly
more under drip irrigation as compared to flood irrigation during 2016-17. However, apparent water
productivity was significantly higher under residue incorporation as compared to residue standing and
residue removal. In direct seeded rice, during 2016 and 2017, all growth attributes i.e., plant height, LAI
and DMA of DSR was highest in the treatment which received double incorporation (incorporation of
paddy straw and wheat straw). Combination of residue incorporation with drip irrigation resulted in highest
values of crop growth attributes. The yield attributes i.e., grain yield and biological yield was 20.31 and
17.59% higher in residue incorporation as compared to residue removal during 2017. All flood irrigated
plots received same amount of irrigation 109.53 and 116.95 cm during 2016 and 2017, respectively. The
lowest amount of irrigation 98.12 and 103.61 cm during 2016 and 2017 was received by RI-RI+D. Residue
incorporation also resulted in lowest drainage and more soil moisture storage at harvesting of direct seeded
rice during both years. Residue incorporation resulted in significant reduction in soil bulk density of surface
soil (0-15 cm) after harvesting of rice during both years. Saturated hydraulic conductivity and soil
infiltration rate also improved under residue incorporation. The study finally concluded that residue
incorporation along with drip irrigation saves irrigation water and improves soil moisture storage and crop
performance.