Abstract:
The
effect of tillage (conventional and zero tillage),
crop establishment (raised-bed and
flat-bed), and weed management practices (herbicide
alone and integrated approach) was
studied on productivity, profitability, nutrient up
take and physico-chemical properties of
soil in soybean–wheat cropping system,
at New Delhi during 2010–2012. Sixteen
treatment combinations consisting of four tillage a
nd crop establishment practices,
viz
.
Conventional Tillage–raised-bed (CT–bed), CT–flat-b
ed, Zero Tillage–raised-bed (ZT–
bed) and ZT–flat-bed; and four weed management prac
tices,
viz
. unweeded control,
herbicide+Hand Weeding (HW), herbicide combination,
and crop residue + herbicide
were laid out in a split-plot design. S
oybean produced higher seed yield (+7.6%) under
raised-bed and wheat under flat-bed (+6.2%), but th
e system productivity was highest
under CT
–
flat-bed. Pre-emergence application of pendimethali
n followed by HW gave
higher yield of soybean, while all weed control tre
atments were found equally good for
wheat. Conventional tillage resulted in higher upta
ke by soybean of N (+5.0%), P (+4.4%)
and K (+3.1%) than ZT, particularly under raised-be
d conditions. In wheat, CT and ZT
resulted in almost similar nutrient uptake under fl
at-bed. Total nutrient uptake of the
system was similar for N and P under all tillage an
d crop establishment practices, while
herbicide+HW gave 4.9
–
7.2% higher uptake than herbicide combination or cr
op
residue+herbicide. Net benefit: cost ratio of the s
ystem was the highest (> 2.0) under ZT
–
flat-bed and herbicide combination.
There was beneficial effect on physico-chemical
properties of soil under ZT and residue application
, but it is necessary to run the
experiment in long-term to see the cumulative effec
t over time.
Keywords:
Benefit, Cost ratio,
Profitability, Raised-bed, Zero tillage.
