Double no-till in a rice-wheat rotation under eastern ... - ACIAR

Double no-till in a rice-wheat rotation under eastern Gangetic plains of
South Asia: medium-term effects on productivity and profitability
Jat RK, Gopal R, Gupta R, Jat ML
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), NASC Complex, New
Delhi-110012, India. r.jat@cgiar.org)
Key words: double no-till, rice-wheat rotation, productivity, profitability
Introduction
Rice-wheat cropping systems occupy 13.5 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP)
of South Asia (Gupta and Seth, 2007) and supports food and livelihood security for millions.
In India alone, rice-wheat rotation (10.5 m ha) contributes about 40% of the country’s total
food grains. Multiple challenges associated with plow based conventional production
practices in rice-wheat rotation including declining factor productivity, shrinking farm profits
due to increasing energy and labour costs, an emerging irrigation water crisis and recent
challenges of climate change are leading to a major threat to food security of South Asia.
Traditional practice of manual transplanting of rice seedlings in random geometry after
intensive dry and wet tillage and conventionally tilled broadcast seeding of wheat contributes
significantly to these challenges, making this system unsustainable. The contrasting adaphic
requirements of rice and wheat under conventional practices leads to sub-soil compaction and
destroys soil structure in surface soil, resulting in restricted root penetration and poor soil
nutrient-moisture-crop root interactions of succeeding upland crop (wheat) leading to low
productivity (Jat et al., 2009). In eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP), late harvest of rice and 7-10
days additional window for planting after conventional tillage leads to delayed planting of
wheat. Therefore, the wheat growth window is relatively shorter in EGP than North-Western
Indo-Gangetic plains due to late planting and terminal heat effects at maturity. Therefore, this
study was planned as a long-term trial to address the challenges in rice-wheat rotation of EGP
as discussed above. This paper highlights the medium term effects of different Conservation
Agriculture based practices including double no-till as a strategy to address the challenges.
Methods
A long-term trial was established during monsoon 2006 at the research farm of Rajendra
Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar, India (25.58510 N, 85.40313 E). The soil of the
experimental site is clay loam with medium organic matter content (0.68 %). The site has hot
and humid summers and to cold winters with average rainfall of 1344 mm, 70 % (941mm) of
which received during July-Sept. Frequent droughts and floods are common in the region.
Eight combinations of tillage and crop establishment methods for a rice-wheat cropping
systems were established in large plots (1400 m 2 each). The treatment combinations were;
Puddled transplanted rice (PuPTR)- Conventional till wheat (CTW), PuTTR-Zero till wheat
(ZTW), Direct seeded rice on permanent beds (PBDSR)-Direct drilling of wheat on
permanent beds (PBDDW), Zero-till direct seeded rice (ZTDSR)-CTW, ZTDSR-ZTW
without residue (ZTW-R), ZTDSR-ZTW with residue retention (ZTW+R), Unpuddled
transplanted rice (UPTR)– ZTW, and Wet DSR (WDSR)- ZTW.
For PuTPR, 23 days old seedlings were transplanted after 3 passes of dry tillage followed by
2 passes of wet tillage and planking. In CTW, 3 passes of dry tillage (harrow and cultivator),

oadcasting of 150 kg seed/ha followed by 1 pass of tillage and planking was practiced. For
ZTDSR, 25 kg seed ha -1 was drilled using a multi-crop Zero till seed-cum-fertilizer planter
without any tillage. Same was used for direct drilling of wheat (ZTW) using 100 kg seed ha -1 .
On permanent beds (67cm centre of furrow to furrow) both rice and wheat were planted using
a raised bed planter keeping two rows on each bed and seed rate for rice and wheat were
used @ 20 and 75 kg ha -1 , respectively. In UPTR, the 23 days rice seedlings were
transplanted after dry tillage but eliminating wet tillage (puddling). The WDSR was
established using broadcasting of sprouted seeds of rice after both dry and wet tillage
(puddling). All the treatments received similar fertilizer nutrients @ N-150 kg, P2O5 60 kg
and K2O 60 kg both for rice and wheat. The yields were recorded using the standard
protocols. The profitability (net returns) was calculated as the values of the inputs and outputs
over the years in Indian rupees and were expressed as the value in US$ over the years.
Results and Discussion
The data on productivity of rice, wheat and rice-wheat system, cost of production and net
returns as presented in Table 1 is the average of 04 years. Results revealed that the highest
average productivity of rice was realized with PuTPR followed by ZTDSR and WDSR.
However, the average productivity under ZTDSR was significantly higher over UPTR and
PBDSR. But, the net returns under ZTDSR and PBDSR were significantly higher over rest of
the tillage and crop establishment options mainly due to difference in cost of production (US$
200-250 ha -1 ). The wheat productivity was significantly higher under ZTW+R (double notill)
over rest of the treatments. Further, the wheat productivity was substantially reduced
when it followed PuTPR, rather than other tillage and establishment practices. It was
attributed mainly to sub soil compaction due to intensive wet tillage (puddling) that restricts
root penetration of the post rice crop (Aggarwal et al, 1995). Under double no-till and
permanent beds, the improved soil porosity and infiltration rate provides more favourable
conditions for the upland crops, leading to higher productivity (Jat et al, 2009). Further, the
yield advantage of residue retention under double no till system was noticed only in wheat
and not in rice.
The total cost of production of the system (rice and wheat) was much lower under permanent
beds (PBDSR-PBW) and double no-till on flat soil (ZTDSR-ZTW- +/-R) by US$ 323 and
252, respectively, compared with conventional practice (PuTPR-CTW), and system
profitability was significantly (US$ 398 and 281 ha -1 ) improved over conventional practice
(Table 1).
Yield trends over 4 years among the double no-till and conventional till practice as presented
in figure 1 revealed that double no-till had stable and higher rice crop yield compared to
conventional transplanting. Further, the continuous no-till practices led to steadily increased
grain yield both rice and wheat over the years. Therefore, double no-till is most promising
option for improving productivity and profitability while sustaining the natural resources and
addressing the emerging challenges in rice-wheat systems of eastern Gangetic plains.

12.0
10.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Figure 1. Productivity(t/ha) trends of rice and wheat under double no-till and conventional
till practices in the rice-wheat rotation
Table 1. Productivity and economics of long-term conservation agricultural practices in ricewheat
system (Average of 04 years).
Tillage and crop
establishment
methods
2006
2007
2008
Rice Wheat Rice-whea
Grain
yield
(t/ha)
2009
PTR-CTW ZTR-ZTW
2010
Total
cost of
prodn
(US$/
ha)
2007
Net Return
(US$/ ha)
Grain
yield
(t/ha)
Total cost
of prodn
(US$/ ha)
Net Return
(US $/ha)
Grain
yield
(t/ha)
PuTPR-CTW 5.80a 680 522c 2.85e 432 327e 8.65b 1
PuTPR-ZTW 5.78a 679 514c 2.93e 343 447d 8.70b 1
PBDSR-PBDDW 5.18c 449 639a 3.13d 340 491d 8.30c 7
ZTDSR-CTW 5.23c 479 631a 3.68b 448 543c 8.90b 9
ZTDSR-ZTW-R 5.38b 486 631a 3.75b 381 630a 9.13a 8
ZTDSR-ZTW+R 5.03c 473 591b 3.93a 387 656a 8.95b 8
UPTR-ZTW 4.70d 581 424e 3.60b 374 595b 8.30c 9
WDSR-ZTW 5.35b 632 481d 3.53c 369 577b 8.88b 1
Within a column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level of pro
multiple range test (DMRT)
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