Site specific nutrient management in wheat in rice wheat cropping system

Abstract

The experiment was conducted for a period of two years from Rabi (wheat) season of 2015-16 through Kharif (rice) season of 2017 at the Experimental Farm of CSK HPKV, Rice and Wheat Research Centre, Malan to study the response of site specific nutrient management in wheat in rice-wheat cropping system. The experiment consisted of 10 treatments comprising combinations of five nutrient management practices i.e. recommended fertilizer dose (120:60:30 kg ha-1 NPK) with top dressing of nitrogen after irrigation; recommended fertilizer dose with top dressing of nitrogen before irrigation; fertilizer dose as recommended by software Nutrient Expert Wheat (125:45:78 kg ha-1 NPK) with top dressing of nitrogen before irrigation, Nutrient Expert Wheat guided fertilizer dose (70% nitrogen recommended by software and rest with green seeker technology) with top dressing of nitrogen before irrigation and N-rich plot which received 150% of recommended nitrogen with top dressing of nitrogen before irrigation with two tillage options i.e. conventional tillage and zero tillage tested in strip plot design, replicated three times. The soil of the experimental field was silty clay loam in texture, acidic in reaction, medium in available N (425 kg ha-1), high in available P (40 kg ha-1) and medium in available K (230 kg ha-1). Results revealed that tillage options had no significant effect on the grain yield of wheat while significantly higher grain yield of rice was recorded in conventional tillage as compared to zero tillage. Nutrient management practices had significant effect on yield of wheat during second year (2016-17) as well as on pooled basis with significantly higher yield recorded in N-rich plot in which 150% of recommended nitrogen was added with top dressing of nitrogen before irrigation. The wheat yield recorded with the application of fertilizer dose recommended by software Nutrient Expert Wheat for a target of 55 q ha-1 was considerably lower than the targeted yield indicating the need to improve/modify the softwa