Conservation Tillage and Weed Management Influencing Weed Dynamics, Crop Performance, Soil Properties, and Profitability in a Rice–Wheat–Greengram System in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain

Abstract

A three-year field experiment was carried out to assess the efficacy of various tillage and residue management practices, as well as weed management approaches, in a rice–wheat–green gram rotation. The treatments included: conventional till transplanted rice–conventional till wheat–fallow (T1); conventional till transplanted rice–zero-till wheat–zero-till green gram (T2); conventional till direct-seeded rice—conventional-till wheat—zero-till green gram (T3); zero-till direct-seeded rice—zero-till wheat—zero-till green gram (T4); zero-till direct-seeded rice + residue zero-till wheat + residue zero-till green gram (T5). In weed management, three treatments are as follows: recommended herbicides (W1); integrated weed management (W2); and unweeded (W3). The integrated weed management treatment had the lowest weed biomass, which was 44.3, 45.3, and 33.7% lower than the treatment W3 at 30 and 60 days after sowing and harvest, respectively. T1 grain and straw yielded more than T2 in the early years than in subsequent years. The conventional till transplanted rice–zero-till wheat–zero-till green gram system produced 33.6, 37.6, and 27.7% greater net returns than the zero-till direct-seeded rice—zero-till wheat—zero-till greengram system, respectively. Conventional till transplanted rice–conventional till wheat–fallow had the biggest reduction (0.41%) in soil organic carbon from the initial value. The findings of the study demonstrated that adopting the transplanting method for rice, followed by zero tillage for wheat and green gram, enhanced productivity and profitability, while simultaneously preserving soil health.

Conservation agriculture and weed management effects on weed community and crop productivity of a rice-maize rotation

“…5 t ha −1 ) decreased the emergence of sedge species, broadleaf, and grass in the range by 22–70 %, 65–67 %, and 73–76 %, respectively, relative to no residue control in ZT-DSR. In addition, Alhammad et al [ 2 ] reported that CT (T)–ZT–ZT had the lowermost weed biomass over the three years under the rice-wheat-greengram system. Principal component bi-plot analysis of the second year also confirmed the unique disparity in weed community conformation among CTR fb CTM and PBDSR + R fb PBDSM + R systems ( Fig.…”

“…This results in a significant knowledge lacuna regarding the performance of CA-based practices in RM systems. Aside from the various benefits that have been gained from CA systems, weed control remains a major inhibition of its efficiency since weed infestations decrease crop yields [ 2 , 29 , 46 ]. Although surface retention of residues in CA-based systems suppresses to a certain extent, weed emergence, residues equally restrict mechanical or manual weed control [ 33 ].…”

Increasing rainwater use efficiency, gross return, and grain protein of rain-fed maize under nitrate and urea nitrogen forms

“…The high grain protein content recorded in nitrate-treated plants as opposed to those that received urea was probably due to the timely release of nitrogen (for plants uptake) by nitrate compared to urea which had to mineralize into available N. Plant's timely nitrogen physiological condition (especially at flowering) at higher rates significantly increases its final total seed protein (gliadin, albumin, and gluten) content (Kaizzi et al, 2012;Han et al, 2020;Alhammad et al, 2023b). The results of this study were consistent with those observed by previous scholars (Ochieng' et al, 2021;Ogega et al, 2022).…”