| International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences |
| ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 10 (2013) pp. 396-405 |
| Root parameters, weeds, economics and productivity of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as affected by methods of planting in-situ paddy straw |
| Avtar Singh*, J. S. Kang, Maninder Kaur and Ashu Goel |
| Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India |
| ABSTRACT |
| On farm trials were conducted in the district of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib of Punjab during 2008-09. The primary aim of this study was to conduct the evaluation of happy seeder and rotavator for in-situ management of paddy straw in comparison with the farmer s practices for the acceleration of happy seeder and rotavator technologies. Data recorded on paddy straw yield from the field of selected farmers during kharif of 2008 to know the average straw yield, which was varied from 8.0 to 9.9 tha -1 in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Kapurthala and Jalandhar. Burning of paddy straw is widely practiced for sowing of wheat with conventional tillage and lost with this practice average of 33.48 kgha -1 available nitrogen, 7.44 kgha -1 available phosphorous and 66.03 kgha -1 available potassium. The sowing of wheat with happy seeder and rotavator in the combined harvested field can add large amount of nutrients in the soil, which will help to improve the soil productivity. Results of this investigation indicated that similar or slightly higher grain yield can be obtained with the sowing of happy seeder (zero tillage) and rotavator (reduced tillage) as compared to farmer s practice, which are most suitable methods for in-situ management of paddy straw and control of weed population. Out of the methods of planting, happy seeder is the most suitable method to reduce the cost of production and to manage the combine harvested paddy straw and ultimately to improve the soil health and productivity. Rotavator sown crop showed shallow root system due to compaction, more weed population as compared to happy seeder, but showed less weed population than farmer s practice. The farmers must used happy seeder for sowing of wheat in the combine harvested fields for in-situ management of paddy straw and also to increase the net returns. |
| Keywords |
| Districts; Farmer s practice; Happy seeder; Paddy straw; Rotavator; Wheat. |