Evaluation of rice residue management options in district Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar of Punjab - A survey

Abstract

A number of options available for rice residue management including in-situ incorporation, onfarm retention or removal, are available with the farmers to tackle with the menace of rice residue burning. In this connection, a survey was conducted in five villages of district Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Punjab adopted by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Langroya to identify the paddy straw management techniques followed by the farmers and determine their relative cost effectiveness and resource use efficiency, and saving of time for the sowing of succeeding wheat. Survey showed that majority (6283%) farmers in the adopted villages, preferred sowing of wheat crop with Happy Seeder. The insitu residue incorporation techniques were followed by a maximum of 34% farmers. Happy Seeder technology took only 2.42 h to sow an area of one hectare as compared to 10.02 and 11.75 h for residue incorporation involving a sequence of operations comprising either disc harrow-rotodrill or disc harrow-seed broadcast-rotavator. Highest energy efficiency was recorded in Happy Seeder technology, which used 19.97 L of diesel to sow one hectare area in comparison to 69.77 and 71.60 L in disc harrow-rotodrill and disc harrows-broadcasting-rotavator techniques, respectively. Furthermore, least cost of crop establishment (Rs. 3020/ha) was observed using Happy Seeder method compared to Rs. 4812 and Rs. 5195 for disc harrow-rotodrill and disc harrows-broadcasting-rotavator, respectively. Our study clearly demonstrates that for on-farm rice residue management, sowing of wheat crop using Happy Seeder (surface residue retention) is an economically viable and eco-friendly option as compared to residue incorporation.