Economic Feasibility of Wheat Cultivation Under the Treatment of Pusa Hydrogel and Vermi-Compost

In the Rabi seasons of 2022–2023 and 2023–2024, experiments were conducted at Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The experimental field’s soil had a sandy loam texture, was somewhat alkaline, and had good drainage. It had medium levels of accessible potassium and phosphorus but small levels of organic carbon and available nitrogen. Four moisture conservation techniques (pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg/ha, Vermi-compost @ 1t/ha, pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg/ha+Vermi-compost @ 1t/ha and no application) and three irrigation levels-first (at CRI stage), second (at CRI, booting and milking), and third (at CRI, late tillering, late jointing, flowering and milking stage)-were tested in a split plot design with three replications.The number of effective tillers/spike, spikelets/spike (41.3 and 38.9), and test weight (41.2 and 39.5g) were the wheat growth parameters and yield-attributing characters that were significantly higher under five irrigation levels than under three and one, with the lowest values occurring under first irrigation in 2022–2023 and 2023–2024, respectively. In the first and second years, the wheat that received five irrigations outperformed the wheat that received three and one irrigations by 7.6, 68.8, and 8.1 and 69.4%, respectively. Likewise, during the trial, wheat cultivated with three and five irrigations yields a greater straw yield of 5.98 and 5.84 and 28.88 and 26.65q/ha, respectively. During 2022–23 and 2023–24, the combined application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg + vermin-compost @ 1t/ha over no application at harvest produced 33.2 and 31.0% greater dry matter production/m and 41.1 and 39.3% more grains/spike, respectively. The application of pusa hydrogel @ 5 kg+ vermi-compost @ 1 t/ha produced the highest B: C ratios (3.18 and 3.12), while five irrigations followed by three irrigations during the first and second years produced the highest B: C ratios (3.25 and 3.21). In addition, this treatment maintained the soil’s moisture and fertility levels while providing the crop with the best nutrient uptake. Thus, in sandy loam soils of the North Western Plain Zones of Western Uttar Pradesh, 5 kg of pusa hydrogel plus 1 t of vermi-compost per hectare with five irrigations (at CRI, late tillering, late jointing, flowering, and milking stage) seemed to work well for wheat.