Effect of Puddling Techniques on Puddling Quality of Silty Loam Soil

Abstract

Paddy is the major cereal crop grown under standing water condition in agricultural fields. Puddling operation is carried out to facilitate standing water condition by creating an impervious layer in the subsoil surface. Puddling is a land preparation practice that will decide the water requirement in field throughout the cropping period. Different puddling techniques like puddling with cage wheel, rotavator, cage wheel ? rotavator and power tiller operated rotary tool were evaluated in a silty loam soil with one and two passes to understand their effect on puddling quality in terms of puddling index, infiltration rate, penetration resistance and depth of puddling. They were measured using standard procedures. Infiltration rate in puddled soil was reduced with an increase in puddling index. Penetration resistance was increased with an increase in depth for all the puddling techniques. Highest depth of puddling of 18.75 cm was observed in cage wheel and rotavator combined operation. Power tiller operated rotary tool with two passes registered the highest puddling index of 70.91% and lowest infiltration rate of 6.5 mm d -1 . Puddling with rotavator was found to be optimum in terms of puddling index, infiltration rate, depth of puddling and penetration resistance. Hence, it was concluded that rotavator puddling is more suitable for silty loam soil.

Comparison of potassium quantity-intensity relationships in tropical paddy soil under tillage and no-tillage systems after fifteen growing seasons

“…Normally, weed control requires a lot of labour (Lhungdim et al 2019); hence the use of chemicals (herbicides) for weed control before planting worth to be trying (Gangireddy and Subramanyam 2020). The soil tillage activities for rice cultivation in paddy fields do not absolutely require tillage because the availability of water in paddy fields can actually help the puddling process (Prasanthkumar et al 2021).…”

“…For preparing the soil to plant rice, the most important thing is that the paddy field must be clean of weeds. Some studies have reported that weed control using herbicides is quite effective and can save labour (Prasanthkumar et al 2021). The application of conservation tillage (no-tillage) saves soil and water and can save energy, costs, and time (Neugschwandtner et al 2014(Neugschwandtner et al , Çay 2018.…”