Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T1-21P-1145
Effect of Irrigation and Mulch on Summer Babycorn (Zea mays L.) in New
Alluvial Zone of West Bengal
V.V.S. Jaya Krishna, Abhijit Saha and Dhananjoy Dutta
Department of Agronomy, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalay,
Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India-741252
Optimization of irrigation schedules along with use of mulch is an effective moisture
conservation technique for raising summer crops under limited water. Moreover, the use of
biodegradable mulches like jute based geo-textile, crop residues etc. has widely been accepted
technology due to beneficial effects on soil. Hence, an attempt was being made to obtain higher
yield and better quality of summer babycorn through efficient management of irrigation and
mulches.
Methodology
Field investigation was conducted at BCKV, West Bengal during summer (March – May) of
2016 & 2017 to find out the growth, yield, nutrients uptake, quality, water use efficiency
(WUE), economics and water stress index of babycorn (cv. G-5414) under different irrigation
scheduling and mulching in a split-plot design with three irrigation treatments in main plot
like IW/CPE 1.0, 0.80 & 0.60 and four mulch treatments in sub-plots such as no mulch, black
polythene mulch (30 µ), paddy straw mulch @ 5t/ha and jute based geo-textile mulch @ 500
gsm replicated thrice in sandy loam soil, neutral pH (6.52), medium fertility, field capacity of
18.58% and permanent wilting point of 8.1%. The crop was planted in raised-bed with 45 cm
× 20 cm spacing and fertilized uniformly with 10 t FYM + N:P2O5: K2O @ 120: 60: 40 kg/ha
as basal. Polythene and jute (geo-textile) sheets were placed over the bed before sowing and
seeds are dibbled in wholes adjusted with the spacing, while straw mulch was applied 5-7 days
after germination. Other standard agronomic package of practices was followed. Irrigation
depth 5 cm was maintained by V notch.
Results
In respect to main effect of treatments, irrigation at IW/CPE 1.0 (I 1) and polythene mulch (M 1)
was found superior than others and therefore, their interaction (I1M1) excelled other
combinations in terms of growth attributes like plant height (208.38 cm), dry matter
accumulation (1912.55 g/m 2 ) and yield attributes like cob no. /plant (2.22), cob weight without
husk (8.36 g) and cob yield (2019 kg/ha), uptake of N (56.12 kg/ha), P2O5 (22.84 kg/ha) and
K 2O (51.71 kg/ha), crude protein (15.98%), crude fibre (41.96%), consumptive water use
efficiency (10.59 kg/ha-mm), net return (Rs. 161294/ha) and benefit-cost ratio (3.07).
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