WEED DYNAMICS, SYSTEM PRODUCTIVITY AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE IN RICE-WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEM AS INFLUENCED BY TILLAGE AND CROP ESTABLISHMENT METHODS ABLISHMENT METHODS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in strip-plot design with four tillage and crop establishment methods in rice as horizontal strip and tillage and crop establishment methods in wheat as vertical strips. The result showed that weed population and dry weight was maximum in zero till drill sown rice followed by sowing sprouted seeds by drum seeders and minimum in manual rice transplanting. Strip till drill sown wheat recorded highest weed/m2 at 35 DAS and being at par with zero till drill, both resulted in significantly higher number of weed than rotavator as well as conventional sowing. However, manual transplanting produced maximum REY of the system and being at par with mechanical transplanting and was significantly higher than drum seeder and zero till drill. Among wheat establishment methods, zero till drill sowing produced maximum REY and being comparable to conventional sowing. The similar results were obtained for system productivity that followed the similar trend of ZT > CT > RT > ST. It was concluded that hand/mechanical transplanting of rice followed zero-till or roatavator till wheat drilling are the best crop establishment methods in rice-wheat system of Eastern IGP.