Crop Residues Management with Different Crop Establishment Methods in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)–Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cropping System

A field experiment was conducted during Kharif and rabi seasons of 2015 and 2016 at farmer’s field of Banka District as an On Farm Trial to study the crop residues management with different crop establishment methods in rice (Oryza sativa L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping system. Treatment comprised two levels of crop residue management ie. residue removal and residue retention (33%) and three levels of crop establishment methods ie. (a) conventional puddled transplanted rice fb conventional-till wheat (PTR-CTW), two times ploughing with cultivator followed by two times puddling and one planking was done before the manual transplanting of 21 days old seedling at 20 cm spacing from row to row. After rice harvesting, wheat was sown by broadcasting in conventional tillage plots with two times harrowing with cultivator followed by one planking; (b) unpuddled transplanted rice fb zero-till wheat (UPTR-ZTW): two times ploughing with cultivator followed by planking, after that water is submerged for transplanting and wet tillage was avoided. 21 days old rice seedlings were transplanted at a spacing of 20 x 15 cm. Wheat crop was sown under ZT using zero tillage machines; (c) zero-till direct-seeded rice fb zero-till wheat (ZTDSR-ZTW): direct-seeding of rice was done using zero-till seed-cum-fertilizer drill in ZT-flat plots at 20 cm row spacing. Wheat crop was sown in zero tillage using zero till machine. Rice variety (Rajendra Sweta) was sown directly by zero till in ZTDSR-ZT plots in the first fortnight of June. On the same date, rice seedlings for transplanting were raised in nursery by ‘Wet bed method’. Experiment was conducted in a split plot design which is replicated by thrice. Grain/panicle or spike, panicle or ear length and effective tillers/m2 recorded more in residue retention treatment and it was registered significantly superior with residue removal treatment under crop residue management in rice and wheat crop during both the years of experiment. Amongst crop establishment method, ZTDSR-ZTW was recorded more Grain/panicle or spike, panicle or ear length and effective tillers/m2 and it was significantly superior with UPTR-ZTW and PTR-CTW treatments under crop establishment methods in rice and wheat crop during both the years of experiment. Residues retention (33%) significantly improved the grain yield of both the component crops. For rice crop, 8.2–10.0% higher grain yield was realized with retention of crop residues. Grain and straw yield of rice were registered more in ZTDSR-ZTW (3.86-3.99 t/ha) & (5.56-5.75 t/ha) closely followed by UPTR-ZTW (4.38-4.45 t/ha). Concerning the data of residue management on economics revealed that the residue retention was recorded more gross return, net return as well as B: C ratio followed by residue removal treatment in both years of experimentation for rice and wheat crop and ZTDSR-ZTW was recorded more gross return, net return as well as B: C ratio followed by UPTR-ZTW and PTR-CTW treatments under crop establishment methods in rice and wheat crop during both the years of experiment.