NITROGEN MANAGEMENT FOR ZERO-TILL RABI CASTOR (Ricinus communis L.) UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PRECEDING CROPS
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Date
2014
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ACHARYA N. G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY. RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
Abstract
A field experiment entitled “Nitrogen management for zero-till rabi
castor (Ricinus communis L.) under the influence of different preceding
crops” was conducted during kharif and rabi 2010-11 and 2011-12 at College Farm,
College of Agriculture, Rajendranagar, ANGRAU. The experiment was laid out in split
plot design, replicated thrice, with four preceding crops in main plots (greengram,
groundnut, bajra and maize) and five nitrogen levels to rabi castor in sub plots (0,40,
80, 120 and 160 kg N ha-1).
The results showed that among different preceding crops evaluated, greengram
markedly increased growth parameters like plant height, LAI, dry matter production of
castor. Similarly, various yield attributes viz., length of primary spike, number of spikes
plant-1, number of capsules primary spike-1 and total number of capsules plant-1 of castor
were also higher when castor followed greengram. The greengram-castor system
recorded higher castor seed yield (3137 and 2875 kg ha-1) over bajra-castor (2949 and
2714 kg ha-1), groundnut-castor (2630 and 2373 kg ha-1) and maize-castor (2479 and
2256 kg ha-1) systems. However, the seed yield of former two systems was found at a
par during both the years. Stalk yield, harvest index, oil content, oil yield and nutrient
uptake followed the same trend. The post harvest soil available N status at the end of
kharif / beginning of rabi season was higher in greengram-castor (292.5 and 300.8 kg
ha-1) and groundnut-castor (277.3 and 289.8 kg ha-1) systems compared to that of bajracastor
(243.8 and 256.3 kg ha-1) and maize-castor (252 and 265 kg ha-1) systems.
Similar positive influence of these two preceding crops was also observed at the end of
rabi season. Similarly the gross returns (`75290 and 83379 ha-1), net returns (`56735
and 64024ha-1) and BCR (3.01 and 3.27) of rabi castor were significantly greater when
castor followed greengram compared to that of castor grown after other kharif crops.
However, it did not differ statistically with bajra-castor.
Among nitrogen levels, application of 160 kg N ha-1 and 120 kg N ha-1, being at
par, recorded taller plants, greater number of leaves plant-1
and higher dry matter
production at all the stages of crop growth and superior LAI at 90 DAS and better yield
components over lower N levels. Similarly, the seed yield (3539 and 3144 kg ha-1
and
stalk yield (3713 and 3144 kg ha-1) of castor at 160 kg N ha-1 was comparable to that of
120 kg N ha-1 (3396 and 3046 kg ha-1 seed yield; 3598 and 3484 stalk yield, during
2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively) and both were found superior to lower N levels
during two years of study. The N, P and K uptake also followed same trend. Higher soil
available N status was observed at higher N levels viz., 160 kg N ha-1 (303.7 and 314.6
kg ha-1) and 120 kg N ha-1 (277.2 and 289.6) compared to lower N levels at the end of
rabi season. Application of 160 kg N ha-1 resulted in significantly higher gross returns
(`84936 and `91162 ha-1), net returns (`65308 and `70734 ha-1) and BCR (3.33 and
3.46) over lower N levels, except 120 kg N ha-1 which recorded identical values for
gross returns (`81498 and `88341 ha-1), net returns (`62356 and `68399 ha-1) and BCR
(3.25 and 3.43) in both the years respectively.
Among different systems, maize-castor with application of 120 kg N ha-1 to
castor gave greater system productivity in terms of CEY (6685 and 5828 kg ha-1 year-1),
systems gross returns (160440 and 169002 ` ha-1 year-1), system net returns (124798
and 131460) and BCR (3.5 and 3.5), eventually higher system productivity day-1 (18.3
and 16 kg ha-1 day-1) and system profitability (342 and 360 ` ha-1 day-1). However, it
did not differ statistically with greengram-castor at the same level of ‘N’ with
comparable CEY (6356 and 5515 kg ha-1 year-1), system gross returns (152552 and
159925), system net returns (122510 and 127983), BCR (4.08 and 4.01), system
productivity per day (17.4 and 15.1 kg ha-1 day-1) and system profitability (336 and 351
` ha-1 day-1).
The results suggest that for securing higher economic returns, system
productivity and profitability, maize-castor/ greengram-castor cropping system with the
application of 120 kg N ha-1 to zero-till rabi castor may be the better option for
enhancing castor production in Southern Telangana Zone of Andhra Pradesh.
Description
Keywords
NITROGEN, MANAGEMENT, ZERO, RABI, CASTOR, PRECEDING, CROPS