Study on Different Tillage Treatments for Rice - Residue Incorporation and its Effect on Wheat Yield in Tarai Region of Uttaranchal

摘要

Rice is one of the major crops grown in the Tarai region of Ut-tranchal occupying about 308,433 ha with a total production of 614,468 metric tonnes and a productivity of 1.9 tonnes/ha. The use of the combine harvester is more prevalent for harvesting rice and wheat. The presence of rice straw in the field, after combine harvesting, makes the subsequent tillage operation difficult. Such fields require more time and energy in seedbed preparation resulting in delayed wheat sowing. The general practice is to burn the straw, which is not eco-friendly. It also contains about 3 mg N g~(-1), which is about half of the annual fertilizer requirement. This useful potential could only be harnessed by incorporating it into the soil. A study to incorporate the rice residue efficiently with minimum tillage energy, was conducted for two years (2000-01 and 2001-02), which involved a combination of different tillage implements. The effect was observed on soil, machine and crop parameters including economics. The treatments were: T_1 - Disc plough x 1 + Harrow x 6 + sowing; T_2 - Chopping x 1 + disc plough x 1 + Harrow x 6 + sowing; T_3 - Disc plough x 1 + Harrow x 2 + heavy roller x 2 + sowing; T_4 - Rota-vator x 2 + sowing; and T_5 - Harrow x 8 + plank x 3 + sowing (control). The experimental results showed that there was only a small variation in wheat yields among treatments. Treatments T_4 and T_3 had the minimum cost of cultivation (8,537.20 and 8,550.88 Rs/ha, respectively) followed by treatments T_1 T_2 and T_5 (10,026.60, 10,326.03 and 10,622.30 Rs/ha, respectively). The net saving was maximum (30,053.52 Rs/ha) for T_3 and minimum (25,568.17 Rs/ha) for T_2. The benefit-cost ratio was also higher (3.51) for T_3. T_3 (Disc plough x 1 + Harrow x 2 + heavy roller x 2 + sowing) was the better package of practice for straw incorporation.