Agrotechnology

Evaluation of zero tillage in rice-wheat belts of India

2^nd International Conference on Agricultural & Horticultural Sciences

Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Hyderabad, India February 03-05, 2014

Vinayaka, Basavaraj and Vivek P

Posters: Agrotechnol

Abstract:

Rice-wheat ( Oryza sativa L.-Triticum aestivum L .) rotation is the major production system in Asia, covering about 18 million ha. The rural population of India needs immediate relief measures through engineering for on farm trials of improved farm technologies and entrepreneurship development for employment opportunities. The zero till seed drills (single row and two row units) were identified and refined for size and weight reduction suiting to the requirements of farmers. Conservation tillage offers an economically attractive and ecologically sound system of improving internal resources, sustaining the system productivity and soil health. Since the total turnaround from rice to wheat is about one month, therefore any delay in previous operations will delay the wheat. Zero-tillage (ZT) along with drill-seeding has been promoted to overcome these problems. A 7-yr permanent plot study evaluated various tillage and crop establishment (CE) methods on soil physical properties with an aim to improve soil health and resource-use efficiency. Treatments included transplanting and direct-seeding of rice on flat and raised beds with or without tillage followed by wheat in CT and ZT soil. Bulk density (D b ) of the 10- to 20-cm soil layer was highest under puddled treatments (1.74-1.77 Mg m -3 ) and lowest under ZT treatments (1.66-1.71 Mg m -3 ). Likewise, soil penetration resistance (SPR) was highest at the 20-cm depth in puddled treatments (3.46-3.72 MPa) and lowest in ZT treatments (2.51-2.82 MPa). The yield varies under different treatments from 18.19 to 24.62 q/ha. Combining the factors of energy analysis, economic analysis and grain yield it can be concluded that zero tillage treatment is one of the energy efficient and cost effective conservation tillage machinery system followed by strip till drill treatment.

Biography :

Vinayaka has completed BTech (Ag. Engg.) from College of Agricultural Engineering, UAS, Raichur. Presently he is pursuing MTech (Ag. Engg.) in the Dept of Farm Power and Machinery from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore.