Effect of establishment method and tillage of rice and wheat in

the rice- wheat system of the Indo Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India

Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar

Uttarakhand India

Speaker: Dr Virender Pratap SinghProfessor

and Programme Coordinator Weed

Control

Background

In the recent times a slowdown in the agricultural rate of growth is observed in India.

Among the various factors responsible, depletion and deterioration of natural resources especially water and soils are considered most vital.

The growth in total factor productivity (output per unit labour and capital combined), has also slowed especially during last 15 years.

Contd.

If we go back to history then we will find that during the green revolution era the share of inputs use towards yield improvement in crops like rice and wheat has increased more than the share of new varieties.

At present, if we add the increased spending of farmers on leasing of land, labour, pesticides and land preparation, the spending on input use has increased more than the increased output.

Food grain demand on the other hand in India by 2020 will be 268.8 Mt.

so

We will have to reduce the negative effect on our natural resources and at the same time need to produce more to meet the demand of ever increasing population.

Also from the farmers perspective concerted efforts are needed to reduce his input cost to make farming profitable and sustainable.

Importance of rice wheat cropping system

Rice and wheat are two most dominnat crops of the world and India. The combined share of rice (41.1%) and wheat (33.9%) towards total food grain production will be 79.6% by 2020. Together these two crops share about 87.5% of the irrigated area of the country and thus make a very dominant rice wheat cropping system (RWCS) in Indo Gangetic Plains (IGP).

Contd.

The favoured position of Rice-Wheat Cropping System in IGP is due to least risk associated with this cropping system. It is also the most convenient cropping system with most field operations are mechanized or are done by hired labour.

The majority of the rice is transplanted because

Availability of labour for intensive cultivation Extensive irrigation infrastructure Mechanization Easy access to production inputs Better marketing and better weed

management

But??

Now farmers are facing shortage of labour and water during the peak transplanting time and due to this transplanting is delayed sometime upto month of August which results in reduced yield.

Also transplanting is drudgery and had adverse effect on the occupational health of laborers.

Sometime rice stands becomes patchy and optimum plant population can not be obtained.

Due to intensive cultivation and long duration rice varieties wheat sowing is delayed sometimes upto January

Water Scarcity

Per capital availability of water 40 - 60 % (1955-1990)

Fresh water supplies 8 – 10 % (2010)

Water table 0.1 – 1.0 m / year

Leading to

Increased Cost of pumping

Aggravating energy crisis

Wheat yield under different dates

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

20 Nov. 7 Dec. 7 Jan. 30-JanSowing dates

Mean of 10 years

Yie

ld

(t h

a-1)

Solution

To combat these adverse effects on natural resources, methods for reducing the adverse effects are needed. Direct dry seeding of rice, instead of transplanting into puddled soil, and zero till sowing of wheat offers the potential for water savings, reduced labour demand at peak times, and improved soil structure.

DIRECT SEEDED RICE Unpuddled field TRANSPLANTED RICE Puddled field

Transplanting – a labour intensive operation Puddling – a water intensive operation

Cracking pattern in Direct Seeded and Transplanted Rice Fields

Direct sowing in rice and zero tillage in both rice and wheat reduces production inputs, and with potential benefits for soil structure.

Weeds however are a major challenge to direct seeding.

Critical period of weed competition

Contd.

A long term study thus was carried out to evaluate rice, wheat and total cropping system performance as affected by rice and establishment method and tillage for both crops.

Treatments: Kharif Season

Rice-Establishment (Main plot) Conventional transplanting – TPR Wet seeding after puddling – WSR (Drum seeded) Dry seeding after conventional tillage – DSR Dry seeding after conventional tillage but with last tillage

following a flush irrigation - DSFR. Dry seeding zero-tillage after flush irrigation and

glyphosate application-ZTRWeed management (Sub-plots)

• No weed control (T0)• One hand weeding at 30 DAS/DAT• Weed free (herbicide + 2 HW at 30-60 DAS/DAT)

ESTABLISHMENT TRIAL

Treatments: Rabi Season

Zero tillage wheat (ZTW) Conventional Tillage Wheat (CTW)

View of the growth difference between ZTW and CTW at 15

sowing interval

Zero-till wheatSowing of wheat with zero-till drill in standing stubbles of

paddy

Figure 1 Regression trendlines between years and different rice establishment methods with respect to rice grain yield

0

1000

2000

3000

40005000

6000

7000

8000

9000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Years

Ric

e g

rain

yie

ld (

kg h

a-1

)

TPR

WSR

DSR

DSFR

ZTR

Linear (TPR)

Linear (WSR)

Linear (DSR)

Linear (DSFR)

Linear (ZTR)

Figure 2: Regression trendlines of TPR and DSR on wheat grain yield across nine years

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Years

Wh

ea

t G

rain

yie

ld

(kg

ha

-1)

TPR

DSR

Linear(TPR)Linear(DSR)

Figure 3: Effect of different wheat establishment methods on wheat grain yield

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

CT ZT

Wheat establishment methods

Whe

at g

rain

yie

ld (K

g ha

-1)

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Table 1: Economics of RWCS (Rs ha-1), rice equivalent yield (kg ha-1) and tractor time (hr) under different establishment

methods of rice and wheat in rice-wheat system

Total cost Gross return Net return Rice equivalent

Yield

Tractor time

CT ZT CT ZT CT ZT CT ZTCT ZT

TPR 35574 33146 76752 74327 33146 41181 10538 10014

67.8 7.1  DSR 31752 30464 72009 78127 30464 47682 9798 10151

Conclusion

Across nine years there was decline in rice yield in all the rice establishment methods. Rice yield were most stable in the DSFR followed by TPR

Wheat yield predicted to increase in response to different rice establishment methods over a period of nine years. Regression analyses indicate that over the years there was more increment in wheat yields when it was followed by DSR than TPR.

Dry seeding (DSR) had higher net returns than both TPR and WSR mainly due to higher cost involved in puddling/transplanting. Zero till planting of wheat reduced production cost of the system further due to less tractor time

The tractor time under ZTW was just 10.5% that of CTW which reduced fuel consumption and ultimately the cost of production.

Sowing of Direct seeded rice Spray of herbicide