Section 3 (Crop Management)

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Proceedings of the 8 th Asian Regional Maize Workshop, Bangkok, Thailand: August 5-8, 2002 ‘On-Farm’ Seed Priming with Maize in Pakistan D. Harris 1,3 , A. Rashid 2 , S. Ali 2 , and P.A. Hollington 1 1 Centre for Arid Zone Studies, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, U.K. Email d.harris@bangor.ac.uk / p.a.hollington@bangor.ac.uk 2 North West Frontier Province Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan. Email eusp@netzone.net.pk 3 To whom all inquiries should be addressed. Abstract ‘On-farm’ seed priming (soaking seeds in water before sowing) has been shown to lead to earlier germination and establishment, and increased yields, in a wide range of crops in many tropical and subtropical environments. We conducted on-station and on-farm Randomised Block Design trials (1998- 2001) and farmer-participatory trials (1999-2001) to assess the effects of priming on maize yields in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Priming for 16-18 h was found to be the optimum time for priming in Pakistan and gave statistically significant benefits in 11 out of 14 trials, in a range of environments over four years, with yield increases from 17 to 76%. Differences in the remaining three trials were not statistically significant. Farmers trials gave yield increases, using primed seed, of 40% (11 farmers) in 1999, 57% (15 farmers) in 2000 and 20% (6 farmers) in 2001. There was no adverse effect of priming and the technique is recommended as a key technology - a low-cost, low-risk intervention to make a significant impact on maize production in a wide range of environments. Introduction Poor crop establishment is a major problem in many areas of the world, particularly for subsistence farmers in rainfed- and poorly irrigated environments. A simple, low-cost, low-risk technology – ‘onfarm’ seed priming (OFSP) – has been shown to be effective in improving stand establishment and crop vigour in a range of crops, countries and agro-environments. Subsistence farmers in western India and south-eastern Zimbabwe used quantitative and qualitative assessment of the effects of OFSP on the performance of rainfed upland rice, maize and chickpea (Harris et al., 1999; Harris et al., 2001a). The beneficial effects of priming on crop establishment, development and yield in those studies have led to the technology being tested in other crops and other countries, e.g. wheat in India, Nepal and Pakistan (Harris et al., 2001b) and chickpea in Bangladesh (Musa et al., 2001). This paper summarises the evidence that priming maize seeds with water before sowing can improve maize yield. Data are presented from researcher-managed on-station and on-farm trials and farmermanaged participatory trials in the NorthWest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Materials and Methods Study area The Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) has a total geographical area of 10.1 million hectares, with diverse climatic, ecological and geomorphologic features. Due to relief and climate constraints, only two million hectares of NWFP is cultivated, out of which 40% is irrigated by canals, with the remaining area dependent upon rainfall. The NWFP Agricultural University Research Station is in the Peshawar Valley, which is mainly canal irrigated, and occupies the central portion of the Province. It has a semiarid to sub- - 316 -
Harris et al. humid, sub-tropical continental climate, with fine textured alluvial soils and mean annual precipitation of 350 mm. Nowshera District is to the east of Peshawar, with soils derived from river alluvium parent materials. The land is moderately saline and the only source of irrigation is saline tubewell water. Rainfall is 550 mm per annum. Mardan District is north east of Peshawar, with a similar soil environment to Nowshera but slightly more rainfall (600 mm). Randomised Block Trials On-Station and On-Farm Details of on-station and on-farm trials are given in Table 1. All trials were Randomised Block Designs and results were analysed using standard ANOVA techniques. Farmer-managed participatory (FAMPAR) trials Simple, paired-plot trials were implemented by farmers in the villages described below. For each trial, farmers were given 10 kg seed of cv Azam and asked to soak 5kg in water for 16 hours, dry the surface of the seed to allow easy handling, then sow using a hollow tube (pora) to deliver seed into the furrow behind a bullock-drawn plough. Five kg of soaked seed was sown into 0.1ha, next to a 0.1 ha plot sown with non-primed seed on the same day. Yields were assessed by researchers who harvested three samples per plot, each consisting of two rows, two metres long. Gundheri village, Nowshera district (4 farmers, 1999; 7 farmers, 2000) It is representative of a salt-affected area of almost 60,000 ha to the east of Peshawar which is underlain by a confined saline aquifer. The water table fluctuates with rainfall and overflows from the nearby Kabul river, but is usually below 2m. Annual rainfall is nearly 550 mm, of which 40% occurs in each of the summer and the winter, and 10% in each of the spring and autumn. The average daily temperature in winter is 13° C, and in summer 32°C. The climate of the area is classified as semiarid subtropical continental lowland (305 m a.s.l.). The soils are stratified, comparatively coarse textured in the subsoil and fine at the surface. The parent material has been deposited by the Kabul river. There is no canal water available for irrigation, and saline tubewell water is relied upon for crop production. Kass Kili village, Mardan District (7 farmers, 1999) It has soils that have been deposited by river alluvium, are moderately calcareous with pH 7.5 to 8.2. Field salinity ranges from 2.5 to 6.5 dSm -1 . Annual rainfall is nearly 500 mm, and canal water is available for irrigation. Sheikh Kili village Peshawar District (8 farmers, 2000) It has soils that have been deposited by river alluvium, are moderately calcareous with pH 7.5 to 8.0. Field salinity ranges from 2.5 to 5.0 dSm -1 . Annual rainfall is 450-500 mm, and canal water is available for irrigation. Ahmadwala village, Karak District (6 farmers, 2001) It is 180 km south of Peshawar. Soil of the area is coarse textured (loamy sand to sandy loam), formed from weathered sandstone rocks in the surrounding hills. Annul rainfall is 320 mm with summer temperatures rising up to 46 o C. There is no source of irrigation other than limited amounts of saline tubewell water. - 317 -
Page 1 and 2:
Section 3: Crop Management - 203 -
Page 3 and 4:
Proceedings of the 8 th Asian Regio
Page 5 and 6:
Maize in the rice-wheat rotation gr
Page 7 and 8:
Maize in the rice-wheat rotation Av
Page 9 and 10:
Maize in the rice-wheat rotation RW
Page 11 and 12:
Maize in the rice-wheat rotation Ta
Page 13 and 14:
Rajbhandari Extensively cited data
Page 15 and 16:
Rajbhandari There was a linear resp
Page 17 and 18:
Rajbhandari sole crop soybean was m
Page 19 and 20:
Table 3. Sample means for phosphoru
Page 21 and 22:
Rajbhandari Table 5. P use efficien
Page 23 and 24:
Appendix 1 a. Combined analysis of
Page 25 and 26:
Rajbhandari Appendix 2a. Combined a
Page 27 and 28:
Rajbhandari Appendix 2b. Combined a
Page 29 and 30:
Proceedings of 8 th Asian Regional
Page 31 and 32:
Soil fertility in the hills of Nepa
Page 33 and 34:
Soil fertility in the hills of Nepa
Page 35 and 36:
Experimental Findings (Based on sta
Page 37 and 38:
Quayyum treatment T2 i.e., maize no
Page 39 and 40:
Table 1. Yield and yield components
Page 41 and 42:
Table 5. Effect of different fertil
Page 43 and 44:
Table 8. Cost & return analyses of
Page 45 and 46:
Table 13. Cost-benefit analysis of
Page 47 and 48:
Proceedings of 8 th Asian Regional
Page 49 and 50:
Maize-wheat systems measured under
Page 51 and 52:
Literature Cited Maize-wheat system
Page 53 and 54:
Table 2. Growth and yield attributi
Page 55 and 56:
Maize-wheat systems Table 4. Balanc
Page 57 and 58:
grain yield and eff. tillers grain
Page 59 and 60:
Proceedings of the 8 th Asian Regio
Page 61 and 62:
Results and Discussion Maize in eas
Page 63 and 64: Maize in eastern hills of Nepal Tab
Page 65 and 66: Yield kg/ha 7000 6000 5000 4000 300
Page 67 and 68: Maize in eastern hills of Nepal App
Page 69 and 70: Pokharel et al. backgrounds, we hav
Page 71 and 72: Proceedings of the 8 th Asian Regio
Page 73 and 74: Results and Discussion N-requiremen
Page 75 and 76: Rainfall (mm) 800 700 600 500 400 3
Page 77 and 78: N-requirement in maize/millet relay
Page 79 and 80: Appendix I. Weather Information rec
Page 81 and 82: Tripathi It is necessary to manage
Page 83 and 84: Results and Discussion Tripathi Mai
Page 85 and 86: Literature Cited Tripathi App (Nepa
Page 87 and 88: Table 4. Treatment combinations and
Page 89 and 90: Table 6. Grain yield of maize (t/ha
Page 91 and 92: Maize grain (t/ha) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Page 93 and 94: Maize grain (t/ha) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Page 95 and 96: Labios et al. surface is left undis
Page 97 and 98: Labios et al. Figures 3 and 4 showe
Page 99 and 100: Labios et al. Labios R.V.; Robles,
Page 101 and 102: Figure 1. Farmers planting corn usi
Page 103 and 104: Figure 5a. Status of the field at p
Page 105 and 106: Proceedings of the 8 th Asian Regio
Page 107 and 108: Maize-rice rotation in Thailand On-
Page 109 and 110: Maize-rice rotation in Thailand Fro
Page 111 and 112: Maize-rice rotation in Thailand Tab
Page 113: Maize-rice rotation in Thailand Tab
Page 117 and 118: Harris et al. In Pakistan, priming
Page 119 and 120: Table 2. Effect of priming duration
show all

Section 3 (Crop Management)

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?