MUKUNDA RAO, BVARA PRASAD, P2018-05-072018-05-072016http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810044736D5256The present investigation was undertaken with the main objective of identifying the level of knowledge and adoption of no-till maize technologies by the farmers of Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Ex- post-facto research design was followed for the study. Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh was purposively selected, out of 57 mandals, three mandals were selected purposively and four villages were selected from each selected mandal for the study. Respondents were selected from each selected village by following proportionate random sampling method. Thus, 120 farmers constituted the sample of the study. Data was collected by pre-tested schedule followed by personal interview method. Appropriate statistical procedure was employed to analyze and interpret the data. The detailed analysis of profile characteristics of no-till maize farmers indicated that majority of the no-till maize farmers were middle aged (45.00%), having high school level of education (24.17%), small land holdings (30.83%), 4 to 6 years of farming experience in no-till maize cultivation (46.67%), medium levels of annual income (62.50%), social participation (55.83%), mass media exposure (60.83%), extension contact (58.33%) innovativeness (59.17%), scientific orientation (65.83%), economic motivation (72.50%) and risk orientation (75.00%) respectively. The detailed analysis of dependent variables indicated that majority of the no-till maize farmers (59.17%) had medium level of knowledge followed by high (25.83%) and remaining with low (15.00%) level of knowledge. An overwhelming majority of respondents had knowledge on the selected production technology in following aspects viz., seed rate, method of sowing, spacing, fungicide used in seed treatment, depth of sowing, quantity of fungicide for seed treatment, pre-emergence application of atrazine, recommended dose of Carbofuran 3G granules for control of stem borer, Combination of herbicides recommended for control of weeds in notill maize, and post emergence application of paraquat. About 69.17 per cent of no-till maize farmers had medium level of adoption followed by those having high (17.50%) and low (13.33%) adoption levels.In case of extent of adoption, present study reported that cent per cent of the no-till maize farmers were using chemical fertilizers indiscriminately. The recommended dose of fertilizer for no-till maize is 250 kg N, 80 kg P2O5 and 80 kg K2O per hectare whereas respondents were using 370 kg N, 140 kg P2O5 and 80 kg K2O per hectare. Out of twelve selected profile characteristics eight of them such as education, farming experience, innovativeness, scientific orientation, risk orientation, economic motivation, mass media exposure and extension contact showed significant relation with level of knowledge on selected production technology of no-till maize. But age, land holding, annual income, social participation did not show any significant relationship with level of knowledge on selected production technology of no-till maize. The multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) indicated that all the twelve selected profile characteristics put together explained 79.02 per cent of variance in the level of knowledge selected production technology, remaining 20.98 per cent is due to the extraneous effect of variables. Out of twelve selected profile characteristics eight of them such as education, farming experience, innovativeness, scientific orientation, risk orientation, economic motivation, mass media exposure and extension contact showed significant relation with the extent of adoption on selected production technology of no-till maize. But age, land holding, annual income, social participation did not show any significant relationship with the extent of adoption on selected production technology of no-till maize. The multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) indicated that all the twelve selected profile characteristics put together contributed 81.60 per cent to the total variance in the extent of adoption, remaining 18.40 per cent due to the extraneous effect of variables. The total cost of cultivation of no-till maize cultivation is Rs.53600 which was greater compared to total costs of rice-fallow black gram cultivation Rs.29600. The gross returns and net returns of no-till maize were Rs.117900 and Rs.64300 as against Rs.52500 and Rs.22900 for rice-fallow black gram cultivation respectively. But the benefit-cost ratio of no-till maize is 1.19 which was much more greater compared to benefit-cost ratio of rice-fallow black gram cultivation which was only 0.77. The most important constraints encountered by the no-till maize farmers were: Scarcity of irrigation water followed by non-availability of public hybrids, scarcity of labour during peak season, high cost of seed material, high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals, ineffective weed control, imbalanced use of fertilizers, high incidence of pests and diseases, non-availability of sowing and harvesting equipments, non-availability of bio-fertilizers in the local market, poor extension services, exploitation by middle men in weighing, lack of remunerative price, non-availability of rural godowns, high cost of transportation, complex procedures in getting loans from the banks, non-availability of loans for tenant farmers, inadequate financial assistance from the government and lack of proper insurance schemes for the maize during natural calamities. Suggestions made by the no-till maize farmers to overcome the constraints were: providing public maize hybrids timely on subsidized rates, engagement of MGNREGA workers in agriculture to overcome labour scarcity, provision of remunerative minimum support price to maize, Provision of timely credit facility, provision of sowing and harvesting equipments on subsidy, proper extension support, strictly implementation of National Agricultural Insurance Scheme for maize crop, strictly implementation of Warabandi system for improving water use efficiency, early completion of Pulichintala project for timely sowing of rice followed by maize, establishment of Processing units for value addition of maize, development of tolerant hybrids against stem borer and sheath blight, provision of good marketing facilities and provision of subsidies in using of drip irrigation system in no-till maize.en-USnullThesis