Presentation from the WCCA 2011 event held in Brisbane, Australia.

1. Effect of establishment method
and tillage of rice and wheat in the
rice- wheat system of the Indo
Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India
Speaker: Dr Virender Pratap Singh
Professor
and
Programme Coordinator Weed Control
Govind Ballabh Pant University of
Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar
Uttarakhand
India

2. Background
In the recent times a slowdown in the agricultural
rate of growth is observed in India.
Among the various factors responsible, depletion
and deterioration of natural resources especially
water and soils are considered most vital.
The growth in total factor productivity (output per unit
labour and capital combined), has also slowed
especially during last 15 years.

3. Contd.
If we go back to history then we will find that during
the green revolution era the share of inputs use
towards yield improvement in crops like rice and
wheat has increased more than the share of new
varieties.
At present, if we add the increased spending of
farmers on leasing of land, labour, pesticides and
land preparation, the spending on input use has
increased more than the increased output.

4. Food grain demand on the other hand in
India by 2020 will be 268.8 Mt.

5. so
We will have to reduce the negative effect on
our natural resources and at the same time
need to produce more to meet the demand of
ever increasing population.
Also from the farmers perspective concerted
efforts are needed to reduce his input cost to
make farming profitable and sustainable.

6. Importance of rice wheat cropping system
Rice and wheat are two most dominnat crops
of the world and India. The combined share
of rice (41.1%) and wheat (33.9%) towards
total food grain production will be 79.6% by
2020. Together these two crops share about
87.5% of the irrigated area of the country and
thus make a very dominant rice wheat
cropping system (RWCS) in Indo Gangetic
Plains (IGP).

7. Contd.
The favoured position of Rice-Wheat
Cropping System in IGP is due to least risk
associated with this cropping system. It is
also the most convenient cropping system
with most field operations are mechanized or
are done by hired labour.

8. The majority of the rice is transplanted
because
 Availability of labour for intensive cultivation
 Extensive irrigation infrastructure
 Mechanization
 Easy access to production inputs
 Better marketing and better weed
management

9. But??
Now farmers are facing shortage of labour and water during the
peak transplanting time and due to this transplanting is delayed
sometime upto month of August which results in reduced yield.
Also transplanting is drudgery and had adverse effect on the
occupational health of laborers.
Sometime rice stands becomes patchy and optimum plant
population can not be obtained.
Due to intensive cultivation and long duration rice varieties
wheat sowing is delayed sometimes upto January

10. Water Scarcity
Per capital availability of water 40 - 60 % (1955-1990)
Fresh water supplies 8 – 10 % (2010)
Water table 0.1 – 1.0 m / year
Leading to
Increased Cost of pumping
Aggravating energy crisis

11. Wheat yield under different dates
6
5
Yield (t ha-1)
4
3
2
1
0
20 Nov. 7 Dec. 7 Jan. 30-Jan
Sowing dates
Mean of 10 years

12. Solution
To combat these adverse effects on natural
resources, methods for reducing the adverse
effects are needed. Direct dry seeding of
rice, instead of transplanting into puddled
soil, and zero till sowing of wheat offers the
potential for water savings, reduced labour
demand at peak times, and improved soil
structure.

13. Cracking pattern in Direct Seeded and Transplanted Rice
Fields
Transplanting – a labour intensive
Puddling – a water intensive operation
operation
TRANSPLANTED RICE Puddled field DIRECT SEEDED RICE Unpuddled field

14. Direct sowing in rice and zero tillage in
both rice and wheat reduces production
inputs, and with potential benefits for
soil structure.
Weeds however are a major challenge
to direct seeding.

15. Critical period of weed competition

16. Contd.

17. A long term study thus was carried out to
evaluate rice, wheat and total cropping
system performance as affected by rice and
establishment method and tillage for both
crops.

18. Treatments: Kharif Season
Rice-Establishment (Main plot)
 Conventional transplanting – TPR
 Wet seeding after puddling – WSR (Drum seeded)
 Dry seeding after conventional tillage – DSR
 Dry seeding after conventional tillage but with last tillage
following a flush irrigation - DSFR.
 Dry seeding zero-tillage after flush irrigation and
glyphosate application-ZTR
Weed management (Sub-plots)
• No weed control (T0)
• One hand weeding at 30 DAS/DAT
• Weed free (herbicide + 2 HW at 30-60 DAS/DAT)

19. ESTABLISHMENT TRIAL

20. Treatments: Rabi Season
 Zero tillage wheat (ZTW)
 Conventional Tillage Wheat (CTW)
View of the growth difference
Sowing of wheat with zero-till Zero-till wheat between ZTW and CTW at 15
drill in standing stubbles of sowing interval
paddy

21. 9000 TPR
)
-1
8000 WSR
Rice grain yield (kg ha
7000 DSR
6000 DSFR
5000 ZTR
4000
Linear (TPR)
3000
Linear (WSR)
2000
Linear (DSR)
1000
0 Linear (DSFR)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Linear (ZTR)
2009 2010
Years
Figure 1 Regression trendlines between years and different rice establishment methods
with respect to rice grain yield

22. 5000
Wheat Grain yield
4000 TPR
(kg ha -1)
3000 DSR
2000 Linear
1000 (TPR)
Linear
0 (DSR)
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010
Years
Figure 2: Regression trendlines of TPR and DSR on
wheat grain yield across nine years

24. Table 1: Economics of RWCS (Rs ha-1), rice equivalent yield
(kg ha-1) and tractor time (hr) under different establishment
methods of rice and wheat in rice-wheat system
Total cost Gross return Net return Rice Tractor time
equivalent
Yield
CT ZT CT ZT CT ZT CT ZT
CT ZT
TPR 35574 33146 76752 74327 33146 41181 10538 10014
67.8 7.1
DSR 31752 30464 72009 78127 30464 47682 9798 10151

25. Conclusion
 Across nine years there was decline in rice yield in all the rice
establishment methods. Rice yield were most stable in the
DSFR followed by TPR
 Wheat yield predicted to increase in response to different rice
establishment methods over a period of nine years. Regression
analyses indicate that over the years there was more increment
in wheat yields when it was followed by DSR than TPR.
 Dry seeding (DSR) had higher net returns than both TPR and
WSR mainly due to higher cost involved in
puddling/transplanting. Zero till planting of wheat reduced
production cost of the system further due to less tractor time
 The tractor time under ZTW was just 10.5% that of CTW which
reduced fuel consumption and ultimately the cost of production.

26. Sowing of Direct seeded rice
Spray of herbicide