Effect of seed priming nutrient management and tillage practices on productivity of rainfed maizewheat system

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted from kharif 2020 to rabi 2021-2022 at the Irrigation and newlineWater Management Farm of Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur. (H.P.) to newlinestudy the effect of seed priming, nutrient management and tillage practices on productivity of newlinerainfed maize-wheat cropping system. The experiment was laid out in randomized block newlinedesign with three factors viz., tillage practices, seed priming and nutrient management newlinepractices and was replicated thrice. The treatments comprised of three tillage practices newline[Conventional tillage (CT), CT + mulch (CT+M) and Zero tillage+ mulch (ZT+M)]; two seed newlinepriming [Hydropriming and micronutrient priming (0.5%Zn and 0.1%Mn)] and two nutrient newlinemanagement practices [recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF) (120:60:40 in maize and newline80:40:40 in wheat) and Integrated nutrient management(50% N through FYM + 50% N and newlinerest of P and K through inorganic sources)]. An additional treatment of control (CT, No newlinepriming, RDF) was also kept for general comparison of results. The soil of the experimental newlinesite was silty clay loam in texture, acidic in reaction, medium in organic carbon, available newlinephosphorus and potassium and low in available nitrogen. Results revealed that significantly newlinehigher growth and yield attributes, yield, nutrient content and uptake, system and water newlineproductivity and economic returns were obtained with conventional tillage + mulch followed newlineby zero tillage + mulch amongst tillage practices, integrated nutrient management over RDF newlineamong nutrient management, whereas seed priming methods did not differ with respect to newlinedifferent parameters. As compared to initial status soil physical and chemical properties viz. newlinebulk density, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus newlineand potassium content at end of two years cropping cycle improved significantly under newlineconventional tillage + mulch and integrated nutrient management practice followed by zero newlinetillage + mulch and integrated nutrient management system. For obtain