Himachal Journal of Agricultural Research

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Effect of Tillage on Growth and Productivity of Rainfed Maize Grown with Zero Budget Natural Farming System in Himachal Pradesh


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1 Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, India
 

A field experiment was conducted on rainfed maize at CSKHPKV, Palampur during 2018 and 2019 to find out the effect of tillage and irrigation on crop growth parameters and yield. The five treatments viz., a) Zero budget natural farming system (ZBNF) + conventional tillage (CT), b) ZBNF + minimum tillage + mulch (MT+M), c) ZBNF + CT + intercropping (IC), d) ZBNF + MT+M+ IC and e) Organic farming + CT were imposed in a randomized block design with four replications. Results indicated that the ZBNF + MT+M treatment with or without intercropping had higher soil moisture content, emergence count, emergence velocity, relative leaf water content, root parameters, yield and water use efficiency of maize as compared to the treatments with conventional tillage during both the study years.

Keywords

Zero budget natural farming system, tillage, seedling emergence, relative leaf water content, root growth parameters, maize yield
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  • Effect of Tillage on Growth and Productivity of Rainfed Maize Grown with Zero Budget Natural Farming System in Himachal Pradesh

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Authors

Richa Jaswal
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, India
Sanjeev K. Sandal
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, India
Kishor Kumar Sahu
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, India
Ankita Sharma
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, India

Abstract


A field experiment was conducted on rainfed maize at CSKHPKV, Palampur during 2018 and 2019 to find out the effect of tillage and irrigation on crop growth parameters and yield. The five treatments viz., a) Zero budget natural farming system (ZBNF) + conventional tillage (CT), b) ZBNF + minimum tillage + mulch (MT+M), c) ZBNF + CT + intercropping (IC), d) ZBNF + MT+M+ IC and e) Organic farming + CT were imposed in a randomized block design with four replications. Results indicated that the ZBNF + MT+M treatment with or without intercropping had higher soil moisture content, emergence count, emergence velocity, relative leaf water content, root parameters, yield and water use efficiency of maize as compared to the treatments with conventional tillage during both the study years.

Keywords


Zero budget natural farming system, tillage, seedling emergence, relative leaf water content, root growth parameters, maize yield

References