Effect of Tillage Practices on Rice Crop Water Productivity and Soil Health

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to assess effect of tillage practices application and performance of rice at Crop Research Centre of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut (U.P.), during kharif season of 2019. The ten treatments consistency application of tillage practices viz., Conventional puddled transplanted rice, Cultivator ploughing without puddled transplanted, Cultivator ploughing with puddled transplanted, Deep ploughing without puddled transplanted, Deep ploughing with puddled transplanted, Rotavator till without puddled transplanted, Rotavator till with puddled transplanted, Disc plough without puddled transplanted, Disc plough with puddled transplanted and Zero till transplanted rice were tested in RBD with three replications. Pusa Basmati-1 was grown as a test variety. The results revealed that the combine application of tillage practices exhibited significant influence on the growth, yield attributes and yields of rice as compared to zero till transplanted rice during year of experimentation. Significant improvement in growth parameters viz. plant height, number of tillers (m-2), dry matter accumulation (g m-2), yield attributes, protein content, 1000-grain weight, nutrient content and grain yield was recorded with the application of RDF Cultivator ploughing with puddled transplanted, which established its superiority over rest of the tillage practices treatments. The total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium uptake by rice crop was also highest (60.50, 19.56 and 17.74 kg ha-1), respectively with the application of Cultivator ploughing with puddled transplanted 66.26 and 52.81 per cent increase in grains and straw yield of rice as compare to zero till transplanted rice. The application of Cultivator ploughing with puddled transplanted resulted in to higher protein yield (378.02 kg ha-1). Thus the application of Cultivator ploughing with puddled transplanted found better for sustainability of rice crop yield, respectively.