Vol. 17 No. 3
Effect of tillage practices and mulching on growth and yield of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in rice-chickpea based cropping system under rainfed condition of Assam
Author(s): A.M. DEKA, I.A. SHEIKH, D. PATHAK AND C.S. PRAHARAJ
Abstract: A field experiment was conducted during winter (Rabi) season of 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 in medium low rice fallow lands of Regional Agricultural Research Station, Shillongani, Nagaon, Assam to study the effect of tillage practices and mulches on growth, yield and economics of chickpea in rice-chickpea based cropping system under rainfed condition. In this experiment, 3 tillage practices viz., conventional tillage, reduced tillage and zero tillage with mulching and no mulching treatments were tested in split plot design with four replications. As per different tillage practices, the chickpea crop (var. JG 14) was sown on different dates after harvest of winter rice (var. Ranjit sub 1). Results revealed that all the tillage practices with mulching resulted in better growth and yield attributes of chickpea over no mulching. However, the highest seed yield (1169 kg ha-1) was recorded in conventional tillage with mulching as compared to reduced (1104 kg ha-1) and zero (1094 kg ha-1) tillage with mulching. Conventional tillage recorded significantly higher rice equivalent yield (REY) of chickpea (4347 kg ha-1), net monetary return (Rs. 39303/-) and B:C ratio ( 2.42) compared to other two tillages. Application of mulches with rice straw @ 2.5 tones ha- 1 to chickpea recorded significantly higher number of branches plant-1, pods plant-1, seed yield (1122 kg ha-1), REY of chickpea (1315 kg ha-1), stover yield (2412 kg ha-1), harvest index (33%), gross monetary return (Rs. 67349 ha-1), net monetary return (Rs. 39132 ha-1),soil available N, P2O5 and K2O content (286.21, 19.94 and 150.47 kg ha-1, respectively), soil fungal and bacterial populations and soil moisture content as compared to no mulching.
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