SG (Slot)

fertilizer d~ill and ridger/ridge seeder. The objectives
of preparatory tillage were good tilth, moisture
conservation, weed free seed bed, residue management and
seed and fertilizer placement.
Adoption of preparatory ploughings by farmers and
per cent difference from recommended practices are given in
Table 1 as affected by different variables.
On an average, there was' little difference (less than
10%) between the recommended and the adopted practices in
rice, wheat and cotton. In case of gram, farmers were
carrying 15 per cent more ploughings than the recommended.
Their view was that more ploughings helped them to conserve
more soil moisture.
Bioclimatic conditions:- Among different bioclimatic zones,
farmers of·humid region were carrying 18 and 22 per cent
more ploughings than the recommended in rice and wheat
respectively. This might have been due to heavy texture
of soil in this region (See Fig;l). F6r these cereals
finer tilth is normally required for optimum germination
and growth (Malik~· al. 1985). This study thus shows
that tillage recommendations should be based on soil type
and bioclimatic regions. In humid region, Sharma et. al.
(1984) showed that direct seeding of wheat in paddy-wheat
rotation by a specially designed single row seed drill gave
as good yield as farmers' practice. It shows that with
proper mechanisation of tillage, there is a great scope of
reducing tillage operations in humid region and gram.
Cultivation status:- Tenant cultivators were following
recommended practices whereas the self-cultivators and
manager-cultivators were doing more than recommended and
less than recommended practices respectively. It was
primarily due to the non-possession of tools and implements
and hiring expenses by manager-cultivators; lesser interest
of tenant-cultivators with poor motive of production and
insecurity of tilling the same land next year and; to have
land in the best tilth free from weeds and get maximum
production from the resources at the command of selfcultivators.
There is need to educate self-cultivators to
reduce tillage practices and manager farmers to increase the
same for different crops accordingly.
Size of cultivated landholding:- Cultivators with the
smallest and the largest size farms were performing tillage
operations much near the recommended ones. Farmers with
middle and upper middle size of landholding were doing
relatively more tillage operations because of manageable
size of farm and possession of tools and implements. Small
farmers were either not having sufficient implements of
their own or were cultivating leased-in-land as tenant
cultivators. Findings of the study suggest that medium size
farm is optimum for carrying out optimum operations but
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