Improving Wheat Productivity in Rice-Wheat Cropping System through Crop Establishment Methods

To ameliorate the ill effect of traditional rice-wheat cropping system efforts have been made to develop several resource conservation technologies. Conventional methods of wheat sowing require intensive pre-planting cultivation, which are labour, time and energy intensive. The field experiment was conducted at the experimental plot of the Crop Research Centre at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar (Udham Singh Nagar) Uttarakhand during Kharif season of 2005-06 to Rabi season of 2006-07. Maximum mean grain (4237 kg ha -1 ) and straw (6235 kg ha -1 ) yields of wheat were obtained from direct seeded rice plots. Nutrient uptake (NPK) by the wheat crop was highest under direct seeded rice due to rice establishment methods. Maximum mean grain (4535 kg ha -1 ) and straw (6423 kg ha -1 ) yields were obtained under zero till. The mean wheat grains per spikes under zero till drill wheat was 0.79, 6.93 and 4.09 per cent more than that of strip till drill, bed planted and conventional wheat, respectively. Zero till drill wheat exhibited significantly higher nutrient uptake by wheat crop than that of conventional, bed planted and strip till drill wheat.