Interactive effect of nitrogen, irrigation and tillage on maize (Zea mays L.) productivity
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Date
2018
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Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Adoption of proper tillage-residue management along with fertilization and irrigation play an important role in influencing crop and water productivity. Tillage-residue management practices influence mechanical and water transmission characteristics of the soil besides influencing nitrogen (N) cycling and processes in soil. Therefore, an experiment was conducted on maize (cultivar PMH-1) and wheat (cultivar PBW 725) with three N levels i.e. N1 (90 kg N ha-1), N2 (120 kg N ha-1) and N3 (150 kg N ha-1) in main plots, four tillage-residue management practices i.e. conventional tillage (CT), conventional tillage with mulch (CTM), no-tillage with residue (NTR) and deep tillage (DT) in sub plots and two irrigation regimes {IW/PAN-E ratio 0.6 (I1) and 0.9 (I2) in sub-sub plots. The DT significantly increased biomass, thousand grain weight, grain yield, partial factor productivity and water productivity of maize by 25.9, 7.8, 23.2, 23.8 and 23.0 % and that of wheat by 51.6, 14.4, 17.4, 18.1 and 17.7 % respectively, over CT. The highest N level i.e. N3 significantly increased biomass, grain yield and water productivity by 25.9, 34.9 and 35.2 % in maize and by 51.6, 47.6 and 47.7% in wheat respectively, over N1. In maize, I2 significantly increased plant height, biomass and partial factor productivity over I1 by 3.0, 7.6 and 8.6 % respectively. Similar observations were recorded for wheat. The water productivity was found to be significantly decreased with increase in irrigation level, however, it was significantly higher under DT with N3 level than other treatments in both maize and wheat. The soil bulk density (Mg m-3) was found to be highest under NTR (1.73) and lowest under DT (1.62) at sub surface layer (15-30 cm). Significant differences due to tillage-residue practices were also reported in saturated hydraulic conductivity (cm hr-1) with highest value being in DT (5.1 and 4.0) and lowest under CT (3.1 and 2.2) at 0-7.5 and 7.5-15 cm soil depth, respectively. Soil aggregation was found to be significantly affected by tillage-residue management practices. Maximum mean weight diameter (0.68 mm) and water stable aggregates (48.4 %) were recorded in NTR. Significantly lowest mean value of penetration resistance (M Pa) was found in case of DT (1.3) and highest under CT (2.2). Higher volumetric soil water content and soil profile moisture storage was observed in NTR. For higher productivity of maize-wheat system, the DT along with N level 150 kg N ha-1 and irrigation regime of IW/CPE ratio 0.9 was found to be suitable practice for northwest India.
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