Improving mustard yield through in-situ soil moisture conservation and conservation tillage in foot hills of Meghalaya

A field experiment was carried out at the water management field, ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Umiam, Meghalaya during 2006–2009, to study the effects of in-situ residue management on soil moisture conservation and productivity of mustard in mid hill altitude. Two main plots (conventional tillage and zero tillage) and six sub plot treatments (control, maize stalk cover (MSC), MSC + Ambrosia sp@5tha⁻¹, MSC+ Ambrosia sp.@10tha⁻¹, MSC+farmyard manure (FYM) @ 10 t ha⁻¹, and MSC + Ambrosia sp. @ 5 t ha⁻¹ + poultry manure @ 5 t ha ⁻¹ were tested in split-plot design. Tillage had no significant effect on seed yield of mustard. All the soil moisture conservation measures improved bulk density and organic carbon of soil.