Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges & Opportunities
during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
Combinations of 12 treatments were replicated thrice resulting in total of 36 experimental plots.
In the case of the flat planting method, spacing between the rows and plant-to-plant was kept at
60 cm and 20 cm, respectively. A similar procedure was followed in the conservation furrow
method except that after planting 4 rows, every 5 th -row plantation was skipped and plant-to-plant
spacing was kept at 18 cm. In ridge planting, seeds were placed 6-7 cm above the base on the
side of ridges spaced 60 cm apart with a 20 cm distance between the plants. In the bed planting
method, one row of maize was sown on top in the center of raised beds 67.5 cm wide having a
top flat of 37.5 cm and a furrow 30 cm with plant-to-plant spacing of 18 cm. The crop was
harvested last week of September 2020.
Results
Among planting methods, bed planting method produced a maximum grain yield of 33.8 qha -1
(Table 1). Bed planting gave a 20.7 percent higher yield followed by ridge sowing which
produced a 12.7 percent higher grain yield at Ballowal Saunkhri as compared to flat sowing.
Higher grain yield (33.5 qha -1 ) was obtained under earthing up and it was statistically better than
under straw mulch and no interculture. Earthing up significantly increased the grain yield by 27.5
percent over no interculture and 7.2 percent over straw mulch treatment. The highest stover yield
was observed under bed sowing (72.6 q ha -1 ) which was significantly higher over the flat sowing
(60.9 q ha -1 ) method. The bed planting method resulted in a maximum net return (31657 Rs) and
B: C ratio (1.84) per hectare than other planting methods. Among moisture conservation
practices, earthing up produced the highest net returns (30865 Rs) and B: C ratio (1.79). The
higher net returns of 10475 Rs per hectare were obtained with earthing up moisture conservation
practices as compared to no interculture.
Effect of planting methods and moisture conservation practices on grain yield, stover yield,
Treatments
Planting method
and economics of rainfed maize at Ballowal Saunkhri.
Grain
(q ha -1 )
Yield
Stover
(q ha -1 )
Net returns
(Rs ha -1 )
Economics
B: C ratio
Flat planting 26.8 60.9 20338 1.56
Ridge planting 30.7 70.7 27094 1.75
Bed planting 33.8 72.6 31657 1.84
Conservation furrow
planting
27.1 66.7 21217 1.58
CD (p=0.05) 2.95 7.24 - -
629 | Page Resource conservation and rainfed agriculture