Journal of the Indian Society of Soil Science

Field experiments were conducted in a sandy loam soil (Typic Haplustept) under a seven-year-old long-term tillage experiment on maize-wheat cropping system during the rabi season, 2021-22 at the experiment farm of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi to study the effect of tillage, residue, irrigation and nitrogen management practices on root morphology, shoot growth, yield and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat (cv HD 2967). It was observed that no-tillage significantly improved root length density (RLD) and root mass density (RMD) at 0-15 cm soil depth. Crop residue mulching, full irrigation and 150% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) improved crop growth rate (CGR), leaf area index (LAI), relative leaf water content (RLWC) and total leaf chlorophyll content. The grain yield of wheat was not significantly influenced by either tillage or residue treatments. However, there was a significant increase in grain yield with increase in nitrogen level but no significant difference was observed due to application of the recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN) 100% and RDN 150%. The partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) and nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) decreased significantly at higher nitrogen levels indicating less than proportionate yield increase and higher losses of nitrogen at higher application rates. At the flowering stage, RLD at 0-15 cm soil depth was significantly positively correlated with Nuptake (r=0.60**) and grain yield of wheat (r=0.47*). Integrating a long-term no-tillage system with maize residue as mulch and 100% recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN 100%) could improve root and shoot growth and enhance nitrogen use efficiency of irrigated wheat in the Indo-Gangetic Plains region.