Vol. 10, Issue 10 (2021)

Author(s):
Shweta Kumari, Devashish Kumar, Sanjay Kumar, SK Dutta, Chandini and Kajal Verma

Abstract:
Soil quality degradation associated with resources scarcity is the major concern for the sustainability of conventional rice-wheat system in the Indo Gangetic Plains region of South Asia. Replacement of conventional management practices with conservation agriculture (CA) practices is required to improve soil quality. The present study was a long-term maize-based conservation agriculture field experiment which was established in 2013-14 at experimental farm of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur. It was devised to compare the effect of zero tillage, permanent beds and the conventional tillage on bulk density (BD) and water holding capacity (WHC) after four years. In the split plot design, three tillage practices viz. zero tillage (ZT), conventional tillage (CT) and permanent bed (PB) were kept in main plot and four rabi crops viz. wheat, rabi maize, mustard and chickpea were kept in sub plot and the treatment combination were replicated thrice. ZT and PB showed significantly lower BD as compared to CT. Among rabi crops the minimum BD was found in wheat followed by maize, mustard and chickpea. WHC for 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil depth was found higher in ZT and PB as compared to CT. Among rabi crops the WHC was found maximum in wheat followed by maize, mustard and chickpea. Therefore CA practices improved soil properties, increases WHC and by lowering the intensity of soil erosion prevents land degradation.