Impact of deep tillage and irrigation regimes on crop performance of maize-wheat cropping system in North-West India Dhaliwal Jeevanjot*, Kahlon Meharban Singh, Kukal Surinder Singh, Dhingra Madhu Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141004, Punjab, India *Corresponding author (Email: jdhaliwal@pau.edu)
Online Published on 10 January, 2023. Abstract Maize (Zea mays)-wheat (Triticum aestivum) cropping system could be an alternative for the dominating rice-wheat cropping system which is being faced by many challenges in north-west India. A two year field experiment (2016–18) was carried out on a sandy loam soil to study the effects of deep tillage and irrigation regimes on crop performance of maize-wheat. There were two irrigation regimes in main plots (based on irrigation water to pan evaporation ratio) in maize (1.2 and 0.8) and wheat (1.0 and 0.5); and three tillage treatments in subplots viz. (1) conventional tillage in maize followed by conventional tilled wheat (MCT-WCT), (2) deep tillage before the sowing of maize during first season followed by conventional tilled wheat (MDT1-WCT) and (3) deep tillage before the sowing of maize during both the seasons followed by conventional tilled wheat (MDT2-WCT). The root growth of maize and wheat crop was higher under deep tilled plots as compared to conventional tilled plots, thereby, resulting in higher grain yield of maize (13%) and wheat (9%) crop. Deep tillage during both the crop seasons (MDT2-WCT) had non-significant impact on the crop growth and grain yield of maize and wheat in comparison to plots with MDT1-WCT tillage practice. Top Keywords Deep tillage, Irrigation regime, Penetration resistance, Root growth. Top |