The effect of seeding and tillage methods on productivity of rice–wheat cropping system

Abstract

Many farmers in southeast Asia are growing rice on unpuddled soil. This practice does not permit breaking of the deadlock of increase in productivity in spite of using high yielding varieties and practising all known scientific technologies. Furthermore, farmers do dry seeding which leads to heavy infestation of weeds and reduces response to other inputs. Similarly, in rice–wheat belt due to short turn around time farmers resort to broadcast sowing of wheat after rice and no data on benefits or otherwise of tillage are available. A field study was therefore conducted for 3 years (1993–1994 to 1995–1996) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to study the effect of tillage and seeding methods in rice–wheat cropping system. Treatments included four combinations of two puddling treatments (puddling and no puddling) and two methods of rice seeding (direct seeding and transplanting) in rice and two tillage treatments (zero and conventional tillage) in wheat. Results indicated that puddling increased grain yield of rice by 0.7–1 t ha −1 and of succeeding wheat by 0.2–0.4 t ha −1, straw yield of rice by 0.8–1.7 t ha −1 and of succeeding wheat by 0.1–1.0 t ha −1. Puddling reduced water requirement of rice by 75 mm ha and increased net return of rice–wheat system by US $175 ha −1. Transplanted rice gave significantly higher grain and straw yields and net returns than direct seeded rice both on puddled and unpuddled seedbed. Conventional tillage in wheat also increased productivity of rice–wheat cropping system significantly over zero tillage after both puddled and non-puddled rice. Our results thus show that rice should be grown on puddled soil and wheat after rice should be sown after conventional tillage.