Effect of Crop Establishment and Nutrient Management in Maize Wheat System

Abstract

Among food crops, maize and wheat are two important cereals contributing to newlinefood and nutritional security at the global level. Maize wheat (MW) cropping systems newlinemainly practised in Indo- Gangetic Basin is the fifth major crop sequence of India newlinebeing practised on about 1.80 m ha area (Timsina et al., 2010) and contributes 2.4 % newlineto the national food basket (Jat et al., 2011a). The unprecedented demands of the newlinespiraling population are putting a considerable strain on the natural resources. In the newlinepast the focus was on increasing food production to attain self-sufficiency, but newlineindiscriminate use of resources not only led to the reduction in total factor newlineproductivity but also resulted in environmental degradation. The focus has now newlineshifted to sustainable production technologies and resource efficient cropping newlinesystems. Among the various inputs, water and fertilizer (nutrients) are considered as newlinethe two key inputs making maximum contribution to crop productivity. newline