Farmer’s participatory evaluation of wheat establishment methods following In situ rice residue management vis-à-vis conventional tillage in north-western India Dhillon Gurmeet Singh1, Sidhu Parkash Singh1, Singh Gurdeep1,*, Singh Pritpal2 1Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bathinda, Punjab 2Farm Advisory Service Centre (FASC), Bathinda, Punjab *Corresponding author email id: gurdeepsingh@pau.edu
Online Published on 30 March, 2024. Abstract The rice residue management (RRM) before wheat establishment has been the major sustainability issue of worlds’ largest rice-wheat cropping system due to large emission of greenhouse gases. This study evaluated farmer’s perception towards different RRM technologies viz. residue retention with happy seeder (either directly) or following mulcher, straw management system (SMS), residue incorporation with super seeder, mould board plough (MBP) and rotavator tillage (RT), residue removal followed by zero tillage (ZT) sowing and open field residue burning followed by conventional tillage (CT) and wheat establishment with conventional seed-cum-fertilizer drill. The wheat grain yield varied between 5.60 and 6.21 q ha−1 in plots with different RRM technologies, as compared with between 5.65 and 6.19 Mg ha−1 in CT plots. Wheat grain yield in happy seeder technology with residue retention varied between 6.10 and 6.13 q ha−1, as compared with between 5.60 and 5.99 q ha−1 in plots with in situ crop residue incorporation, and the highest (6.21 q ha−1) in wheat where rice residue was removed with baler technology. Wheat grain yield among different rice residue management technologies did not differ significantly (p<0.05) from that of the CT. The average net returns (ANRs) varied between 1133 and 1282 US$ ha−1 for RRM technologies as compared with between 1093 and 1239 US$ ha−1 in CT. These results revealed the highest B-C ratio of wheat establishment with happy seeder (B-C ratio = 4.18) with surface retention of rice residues, followed by super seeder sown wheat (B-C ratio = 3.71). In happy seeder sown wheat plots, the number of irrigations were decreased by ~10.4%, compared with the plots with in situ residue incorporation (viz. super seeder, MBP and the RT methods. As compared with the CT, the average number of irrigations applied to wheat was decreased by ~11.5% with surface retention of rice residue in happy seeder sown plots. In CT plots, the infestation of pink stem borer was ~10-times lower than the plots where mulcher was used before wheat sowing with happy seeder. Top Keywords Economic efficiency, Happy seeder, Pink stem borer, Residue management, Water saving. Top |