Enhancing wheat yield through optimized seed rates under in-situ rice residue management in rice-wheat system Kaur Jagroop1,*, Manhas S S1, Srivastava Puja2, Kang J S1 1Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab 2Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, Punjab *Corresponding author : jagroopsekhon@pau.edu
Online Published on 15 December, 2023. Abstract A field experiment was carried out at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during the rabi seasons of 2019-20 and 2020-21. The objective was to determine the optimal seed rate of wheat for sowing under rice residue by evaluating three different wheat varieties across five seed rates: 87.5, 100, 112.5, 125 and 137.5 kg/ha. The experiment included two sowing methods, namely Happy seeder sowing and Conventional sowing. The results showed that under Happy seeder sowing, both PBW 725 and HD 3086 varieties achieved significantly higher grain yields of 10.6% and 10.0%, respectively, when sown at a seed rate of 112.5 kg/ha compared to 100 kg/ha. Conversely, for the variety Unnat PBW 550, the highest grain yield was observed at a seed rate of 125 kg/ha when sown with the Happy seeder. This can be attributed to the optimal emergence and effective tiller count observed at this seed rate. Based on the findings, it is recommended to use a seed rate that is 12.5% higher than the rate recommended for conventional sowing to achieve higher grain yield of wheat when employing the Happy seeder sowing method. In the case of Unnat PBW 550, the suggested seed rate increase is 11% above the conventional recommendation. This adjustment in seed rate is expected to optimize wheat production under Happy seeder sowing, ultimately leading to improved grain yield. Top Keywords Grain yield, Happy Seeder, In-situ rice residue management, Seed rate, Wheat varieties. Top |