Effect of tillage and weed management practices on growth, yield attributes and yield of conservation agriculture based wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2017-18 at Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology, Kumarganj, Ayodhya 224229, (U.P.) to evaluate the effect of various tillage and weed management practices on growth parameters, yield attributes and yield of wheat crop. Results revealed that application of DSR-ZT+R, W-ZT+R, S-ZT (T₅ ) resulted in significantly lowest total weed density and total weed dry weight (g/m² ) at 60, 90 DAS and harvest. The application of Clodinafop + metsulfuron @ 60 + 4 g/ha at 30 DAS fb 1 hand at 45 DAS weeding (W₂ ) also registered lowest values of weed density and total weed dry weight at all the growth stages. The application of tillage treatment T₅ recorded maximum number of shoots (674.9, 725.8 and 711.1/m² ) and dry matter accumulation (449.3, 778.8 and 942.2 g) at 60, 90 DAS and harvest, respectively. Among weed management practices, treatment W₂ resulted in significantly maximum number of shoots and dry matter accumulation at all the stages of crop growth, except at 30 DAS. The maximum spike length (9.41 cm), grains/spike (46.67), grains weight/spike (1.93 g) and test weight (41.07 g) were recorded with application of tillage treatment T₅ . Treatment W₂ improved the spike length by 7.36%, grains/spike by 10.14%, grain weight/spike by 11.52 and test weight by 5.06% over control. The mean maximum grain (3881 kg/ha) and straw (5546 kg/ha) yield were recorded with application of tillage treatment T₅ . W₂ enhanced the mean grain and straw yield of wheat by 7.82% and 7.64%, respectively. The application of tillage treatment T₅ and W₂ to wheat enhanced the production and productivity.