Stubble Mulching as a Soil Conservation Measure in the Gangetic Plain Area of U.P.

Abstract

In the Gangetic plain area of U.P. the rabi crops are harvested by April. The farm lands then usually lay bare during the summer months of May and June. The weather during these months are hot and dry and wind velocity is very high. Thus, the bare fields under high wind velocity provide an ideal condition for wind erosion. There has been a growing practice among farmers to plough up the field with a mould-board plough, soon after the rabi crop is harvested to bury the trash, to kill soil borne pests, diseases and weeds, and to allow rapid percolationöf water from the heavy down-pour of the first monsoon rains. Summer ploughing may have been a good agronomic practice if it did not result in increased erosion of the surface soil from rain and wind. A practice therefore needs to be developed which would keep erosion losses from the farmers' fields to a minimum. The practice of stubble mulching seems to provide an answer.