Effect of No-Till and Raised-Bed Planting on Soil Moisture Conservation and Productivity of Summer Maize (Zea mays) in Eastern Himalayas

Abstract

Productivity of summer maize (Zea mays) is relatively low in hill ecosystem of north-eastern region (NER) of India due to scanty rainfall, lack of irrigation and low residual soil moisture. Conservation tillage along with suitable land management system can improve the soil moisture regime and performance of maize. Field experiment was conducted for 2 years (2012 and 2013) with six combinations of tillage and land configuration practices, viz. CT–FB: conventional tillage (CT) with flatbed planting (FB), CT–RF: CT with ridge and furrow planting (RF), CT–RB: CT with raised-bed planting (RB), NT–FB: no-till (NT) with FB, NT–RF: NT with RF and NT–RB: NT with RB. Results revealed that significantly higher soil moisture content (22.8–23.4% and 21.0–25.3%) was found in NT–RB system as compared those under CT–FB (19.0–19.4% and 17.0–21.2%) at 0–60 cm soil depth in both years 2012 and 2013, respectively, at all the period of moisture estimation. The NT–RB system being on a par with NT–RF recorded significantly higher root length, rooting density, leaf area index and biomass accumulation as compared to other treatments. The average (2 years) maximum number of cobs ha−1 (63,518 cobs per plant), cob weight (272 g per cob), green cob (11.2 M ha−1) and fodder yield (50.5 Mg ha−1) were also recorded under NT–RB system. So, it is recommended to grow summer maize under NT–RB system for higher soil moisture conservation, improved plant growth and subsequently good fodder and green cob yield in the hills of NER.