Influence of tillage and residue management on growth and yield of cotton grown on a vertisol over 5 years in a semi-arid region of India

Blaise, D.; Ravindran, C. D.

doi:10.1016/s0167-1987(02)00153-8

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…No-till and reduced tillage systems have been reported to perform better (Mrabet 2002), similar and sometimes poorer than conventional tillage systems in terms of agronomic yields (Blaise and Ravindran 2003;Diaz-Zorita 2000). In our case, agronomic performance in no-till system improved throughout the four seasons.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 47%

Conservation tillage, local organic resources and nitrogen fertilizer combinations affect maize productivity, soil structure and nutrient balances in semi-arid Kenya

Kihara

Bationo

Mugendi

et al. 2011

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Smallholder land productivity in drylands can be increased by optimizing locally available resources, through nutrient enhancement and water conservation. In this study, we investigated the effect of tillage system, organic resource and chemical nitrogen fertilizer application on maize productivity in a sandy soil in eastern Kenya over four seasons. The objectives were to (1) determine effects of different tillage-organic resource combinations on soil structure and crop yield, (2) determine optimum organic-inorganic nutrient combinations for arid and semi-arid environments in Kenya and, (3) assess partial nutrient budgets of different soil, water and nutrient management practices using nutrient inflows and outflows. This experiment, initiated in the short rainy season of 2005, was a split plot design with 7 treatments involving combinations of tillage (tiedridges, conventional tillage and no-till) and organic resource (1 t ha -1 manure ? 1 t ha -1 crop residue and; 2 t ha -1 of manure (no crop residue) in the main plots. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer at 0 and 60 kg N ha -1 was used in sub-plots. Although average yield in no-till was by 30-65% lower than in conventional and tied-ridges during the initial two seasons, it achieved 7-40% higher yields than these tillage systems by season four. Combined application of 1 t ha -1 of crop residue and 1 t ha -1 of manure increased maize yield over sole application of manure at 2 t ha -1 by between 17 and 51% depending on the tillage system, for treatments without inorganic N fertilizer. Cumulative nutrients in harvested maize in the four seasons ranged from 77 to 196 kg N ha -1 , 12 to 27 kg P ha -1 and 102 to 191 kg K ha -1 , representing 23 and 62% of applied N in treatments with and without mineral fertilizer N respectively, 10% of applied P and 35% of applied K. Chemical nitrogen fertilizer application increased maize yields by 17-94%; the increases were significant in the first 3 seasons (P \ 0.05). Tillage had significant effect on soil macro-([2 mm) and micro-aggregates fractions (\250 lm [53 lm: P \ 0.05), with aggregation indices following the order no-till [ tied-ridges [ conventional tillage. Also, combining crop residue and manure increased large macro-aggregates by 1.4-4.0 g 100 g -1 soil above manure only treatments. We conclude that even with modest organic resource application, and depending on the number of seasons of use, conservation tillage systems such as tied-ridges and no-till can be effective in improving crop yield, nutrient uptake and soil structure and that farmers are better off applying 1 t ha -1 each of crop residue and manure rather than sole manure.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 47%

Conservation tillage, local organic resources and nitrogen fertilizer combinations affect maize productivity, soil structure and nutrient balances in semi-arid Kenya

Kihara

Bationo

Mugendi

et al. 2011

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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“…These tropical regions have inherently low levels of soil carbon [1]. Current farming practices further exacerbate this problem because the aboveground plant residue is used for animal feed or fuel [2]. A dry matter return of 2 to 3 kg m −2 is required to maintain soil organic carbon levels, but in cotton production systems, dry matter return is typically only 0.8 to 1.2 kg m −2 [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sticky nature of these soils when wet makes timely weed control operations problematic. This is because weed management typically involves multiple inter-row cultivations and occurs primarily during the rainy months of June through August [2]. Since initial growth of cotton plants is slow, during the wettest weeks of the growing season, the cotton crop covers only a small portion of the soil surface, leaving these soils prone to erosion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Living Mulch Performance in a Tropical Cotton System and Impact on Yield and Weed Control

et al. 2018

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Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is a major crop in the Vidarbha region of central India. The vertisol soils on which much of the cotton is grown have been severely degraded by the tropical climate, excessive tillage and depletion of organic matter. Living mulches have the ability to mitigate these problems but they can cause crop losses through direct competition with the cotton crop and unreliable weed control. Living mulch height was controlled through mowing and herbicides were not used. Living mulches generated 1 to 13 tons ha −1 of dry matter across sites and years. Weed cover was negatively correlated with both living mulch biomass and cover. Where living mulches were vigorous and established quickly, weed cover was as low as 7%, without the use of herbicides, or inter-row tillage. In a dry year, living mulch growth had a negative impact on cotton yield; however, in a year when soil moisture was not limiting, there was a positive relationship between cotton yield and living mulch biomass. Use of living mulches in cotton production in the Vidarbha region of India is feasible and can lead to both effective weed suppression and acceptable cotton yields.

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“…Deep soils though recommended for cotton cultivation, Vertisols with depth <0.6 m are put under cultivation for economic reasons. Some of the strategies available to improve crop productivity are conservation tillage (Blaise and Ravindran 2003); balanced use of primary plant nutrients (Palaniappan and Annadurai 1995) and green manuring (Solaiappan and Dason 1998). These improved practices can lead to an improved soil nutrient status and possibly improve the nutrient uptake by crops (Hulugalle et al 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient Uptake and Balance of Cotton + Pigeonpea Strip Intercropping on Rainfed Vertisols of Central India

Blaise

Bonde

Chaudhary

2005

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Nutrient uptake and balance of the cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) + pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan(L.) Millsp.), a traditional strip intercropping system practiced on the rainfed Vertisols of central India is not known to us. On-farm participatory trials were conducted on 10 farmer fields, five each on medium deep (MDS) and deep soils (DS) of Nagpur, central India to determine the effect of technological interventions on N, P and K uptake of cotton and pigeonpea. The nutrient balance was also quantified as a difference of nutrient inputs and removal. Nutrients accumulated by the crops (grain, stalk and leaves) and weeds removed off the field by hand weeding were considered as nutrient removal, while fertilizer was considered as nutrient input. The interventions included application of recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), RDF + conservation tillage with in situ green manure (CT 1 ) and CT 1 + application of ZnSO 4 (CT 2 ) and compared with farmers' practice (FP). Nutrient uptake, in general, was higher on DS than on MDS. Among the interventions, N, P and K uptake of cotton and pigeonpea followed the order: CT 2 > CT 1 > RDF > FP. Mean N and P balance was positive in all the treatments. The balance may become negative if nutrient losses are accounted. A negative K balance was observed in all the treatments and the magnitude was the greatest for the FP plots (À39.4 kg ha À1 y À1 ). In spite of fertilizer-K application in the intervention plots, K balance was negative (À14.4 to À19.5 kg ha À1 y À1 ). By way of leaf and fruit drop, cotton and pigeonpea litter recycled 12.2 kg N, 1.7 kg P and 6.7 kg K ha À1 y À1 .

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Influence of tillage and residue management on growth and yield of cotton grown on a vertisol over 5 years in a semi-arid region of India

Cited by 31 publications

References 29 publications

Conservation tillage, local organic resources and nitrogen fertilizer combinations affect maize productivity, soil structure and nutrient balances in semi-arid Kenya

Conservation tillage, local organic resources and nitrogen fertilizer combinations affect maize productivity, soil structure and nutrient balances in semi-arid Kenya

Living Mulch Performance in a Tropical Cotton System and Impact on Yield and Weed Control

Nutrient Uptake and Balance of Cotton + Pigeonpea Strip Intercropping on Rainfed Vertisols of Central India

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