Studies on rice establishment methods and crop management practices in red rice wheat cropping system

Abstract

newline A field experiment was conducted at Research Farm, Holta, Department of Organic Agriculture and Natural Farming, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur from kharif 2021 to rabi 2022-23, to evaluate the effect of different rice establishment methods and crop management practices on the performance of red rice wheat cropping system. The field experiment consisted of twelve treatment combinations, viz. three crop establishment methods (transplanted rice, system of rice intensification and aerobic rice) in main plots; and four crop management practices (organic farming, natural farming, integrated nutrient management and control) allotted to sub-plots in a split-plot design, replicated thrice. The soil of the experimental field was silty clay loam in texture, acidic in reaction, high in organic carbon, medium in available nitrogen, potassium and available phosphorus. SRI and transplanting method resulted in significantly higher values of growth parameters (plant height, shoots per square meter, dry matter accumulation and LAI at heading) which resulted in significantly higher grain yield of red rice under SRI (2.45 t ha-1) as well as transplanted rice (2.39 t ha-1); while significantly lower yield was obtained in aerobic rice system (2.17 t ha-1). The grain yield of rice was 12.7 and 10.6 per cent higher with SRI and puddled transplanted rice, respectively over aerobic method. In terms of crop management practices, the highest yields were consistently obtained with integrated nutrient management (INM) and grain yield under integrated nutrient management was 43.9 per cent higher than control, while the increase with organic farming and natural farming practices were of the magnitude 34.4 and 18.7 per cent. In case of succeeding wheat crop, higher yield was recorded when the preceding rice crop was raised under aerobic system of cultivation. The highest input energy was recorded with the transplanted rice method (M1) in both years while the SRI method (M2) had the highest energy output when rice was sown. SRI and transplanting methods yielded higher gross returns than aerobic methods, while integrated nutrient management, organic farming, and NF showed the highest net returns. In case of wheat, it was found that wheat sown after aerobic method of rice cultivation resulted in significantly higher grain, straw and biological yields during both the years i.e. 12.1 and 21.0 per cent higher than SRI and transplanted methods in the first year and 12.8 and 20.6 per cent higher in the second year. Higher yields were recorded with INM, followed by organic and natural farming practices. The aerobic method (M3) consistently provided the highest gross and net returns and the best benefit-cost ratio in case of wheat, making it the most economically efficient method. In crop management practices, natural farming (C2) yielded the highest economic returns owing to the lower cost of cultivation and highest BC ratio. The aerobic method (M3) resulted in highest system productivity while the SRI method (M2) had the highest profitability amongst rice establishment methods. Natural farming (C2) gave the highest profitability (488.3 and 469.7 and#8377; ha-1 day-1) despite lower productivity, suggesting that it is the most cost-effective crop management strategy