Studies on method of rice establishment residue retention and zinc application in rice wheat cropping system

Abstract

newline The field experiment was conducted from kharif 2021 to rabi 2022-23 under the mid-hill conditions of Himachal newlinePradesh at Experimental farm of Rice and Wheat Research Centre, Malan of CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi newlineVishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh to study the effect of different rice establishment methods, residue newlineretention and zinc application on growth, development, yield, soil health and economics of rice-wheat cropping newlinesystem. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design and comprised of six main plot treatments viz., M1: newlinetransplanting, M2: wet seeding (line sowing under puddle condition), M3: aerobic rice (dry rice cultivation), M4: newlinetransplanting + soil application of ZnSO4 at12.5 kg ha-1 + foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 0.5% at flowering and early milk newlinestages, M5: wet seeding + soil and foliar application of ZnSO4, M6: aerobic rice + soil and foliar application of newlineZnSO4, and three sub plot treatments viz., S1: no residue, S2: 15 cm height of rice straw from ground and newlineincorporation in soil and S3: 30 cm height of rice straw from ground and incorporation with three replications. The newlinevarieties used in the investigation were HPR 1068 of rice and HPW 349 of wheat. The soil at the experimental site newlinewas silty clay loam in texture, acidic in reaction, medium in available nitrogen, available phosphorus and available newlinepotassium. The results obtained from the present investigation clearly indicated the significant influence of different newlineestablishment method with or without zinc on the growth, development, yield attributes and yield of rice and their newlineresidual effect had significant influence on the subsequent wheat crop. Transplanting method along with zinc newlineapplication resulted in significantly higher values of growth parameters, yield attributes, yield and grain zinc content newlineof rice whereas wheat crop sown after aerobic method along with zinc application resulted in significantly higher newlinegrowth parameters, yield attributes and yield of wheat. On the other hand, residue incorporation o