C. S. Singh, D.N. Puran1, Maya Singh and S.K. Singh
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand to evaluate the response of maize (Zea mays L.) and wheat {Triticum aestivum (L.) emend. Fiori & Paol.} cultivars to different tillage practices (conventional, permanent narrow bed system and zero tillage) in maize-wheat cropping system. The morpho-physiological analysis of growth and yield in maize and wheat revealed that permanent narrow bed manifested significantly higher growth and yield attributes of maize and wheat over zero tillage and conventional method. The permanent narrow bed produced significantly higher cob yield, grain yield and stover yield of maize and grain and straw yield of wheat than zero tillage and conventional tillage. Zero tillage in Rabi also produced significantly higher wheat grain and straw yield than conventional tillage. However, in rainy (Kharif) season zero tillage resulted in comparable yield as with conventional tillage. The permanent narrow bed fetched higher net return of maize and wheat which showed its superiority over other tillage treatments. Maximum uptake of N, P and K by maize and wheat was recorded with permanent narrow bed which was significantly higher than zero tillage and conventional tillage method. Among cultivars, maize cultivar PHI-3540 and wheat cultivar WR-544 proved superior over other cultivar recording highest growth attributes, yield attributes, yield, net return, B:C ratio as well as N, P and K uptake.