Testing of wheat establishment under different rice residue management techniques

The effect of different rice residue management and wheat establishment methods on wheat yield and economics is reported in this paper by conducting a farmer participated experiment in Ferozepur district with aim of timely sowing of wheat crop at low cost to get higher yield. High wheat sowing cost and delay in sowing due to rain are major concern for farmers. Different rice residue management methods including rice residue removal, residue incorporation and residue retention on soil surface as mulch were evaluated. Wheat seed broadcasting method being statistical at par with happy seeder and super seeder methods of wheat establishment recorded significantly (p<0.05) higher (9.9 %) grain yield ha^-1 than conventional sowing. Rice residue management methods have non-significant effect on wheat plant height. Seed broadcasting method significantly increased effective tillers m-2 as compared to conventional sowing. Spike length, number of spikelets spike^-1, 1000-grains weight was affected non-significantly by rice crop residue management methods. Seed broadcasting gave high gross return (Rs. 120496.3 ha^-1), net return (Rs. 92684.3 ha^-1) and benefit cost ratio (3.3) because of low cost of cultivation (Rs. 27812.0 ha^-1) followed by super seeder and happy seeder methods of wheat establishment.