Growth and Economic Assessment of Wheat under Tillage and Nitrogen Levels in Rice-Wheat System

Mechanically post-harvest puddled rice field has stubbles that often delay timely planting of winter wheat crop. Zero tillage increased the net return by decreasing the unwise tillage operations and labor charges. Keep in view, a randomized complete block design experiment in a split plot arrangement was conducted with four tillage system [conventional tillage, CT; deep tillage, DT; zero tillage with zone disc tiller, ZDT; and happy seeder, HS] in main plots and five nitrogen levels [0, 75, 100, 125, and 150 kg·ha-1] in subplots during 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 cropping seasons. Results showed that in 2009-10 and 2010-11 grain yield (4.6 Mg·ha-1 and 5.7 Mg·ha-1) in DT and (4.5 Mg·ha-1 and 5.8 Mg·ha-1) in HS were significantly higher compared with CT and ZDT. Significantly, maximum leaf area index (5.18 and 5.24) and crop growth rate (12.14 g·m-2·d-1 and 13.15 g·m-2·d-1) were noted in DT. Grain protein (11.78%) was significantly higher in DT compared with CT, ZDT, and HS during 2009-10 and 2010-11. Total yield (12.4 Mg·ha-1 and 16.4 Mg·ha-1) and grain yield (4.9 Mg·ha-1 and 6.5 Mg·ha-1) at N125 kg·ha-1 while grain protein (13.52%) at N150 kg·ha-1 was significantly higher than other nitrogen levels. Maximum LAI (5.08 and 5.51) and crop growth rate (14.68 g m-2·d-1 and 15.77 g