Effect of straw mulching, irrigation and fertilizer nitrogen levels on soil hydrothermal regime, water use and yield of hybrid chilli

Abstract

In northern India, chilli is transplanted in the hot and dry months of February and March when the crop depends upon irrigation water for canopy establishment. Hybrid chilli may require more irrigation water and fertilizer N due to its higher yield potential but the problem of the depleting groundwater table in the region necessitates developing a technique for reducing water requirement. Rice residue mulching can lower soil temperature and reduce evaporation losses from soil. An experiment was conducted on sandy loam soil for three years to evaluate the effect of rice straw mulch @ 6 Mg ha 71 on yield, fertilizer N and irrigation water requirement of hybrid chilli. Maximum and minimum soil temperatures at 50 mm depth during 2003 were lowered up to 8.9 and 2.28C, respectively, by rice residue mulching. Mulching improved fresh red chilli yield by 2.4 Mg ha 71 and required 120 mm less irrigation water. Substantial yield increase with mulching may be attributed to favourable soil hydrothermal regime as evident from lower soil temperature, higher profile moisture (12 mm) and 13.5 Mg ha 71 lower weed biomass. Chilli yield obtained with 45 kg N ha 71 with mulch was the same as that of 75 kg N ha 71 without mulch. Ascorbic acid content decreased with lower irrigation frequency but was significantly higher without mulch.

Residue Mulch Effects on Potato Productivity and Irrigation and Nitrogen Economy in a Subtropical Environment

“…2 that top 0.15-m soil layer in M 6 plots retained 0.8 to 1.7% more moisture (in absolute terms) than M 0 plots throughout the growing season in the I 2.0 regime in the loamy sand soil during 2009-2010. Higher soil moisture and moderation of soil temperature with residue mulching in the tropical and subtropical environments are in agreement with earlier reports (Aulakh and Sur 1999;Kar and Kumar 2007;Sekhon et al 2008). …”

“…As optimum soil temperature for potato is 15-20°C (Borah and Milthorpe 1963), the high maximum soil temperature in M 0 was detrimental for crop growth. Similar effects of residue mulching on soil temperature have been reported in this region (Singh et al 1988;Sekhon et al 2008).…”

The effect of soil mulching with straw on the yield and selected components of nutritive value in broccoli and tomatoes

“…In the study by Najafabadi et al (2012), soil mulching with straw contributed to increased vitamin C content in garlic bulbs. On the contrary, Sekhon et al (2008) found significantly higher content of ascorbic acid in sweet pepper fruits cultivated in a control plot without mulch, compared to the plots with organic mulch. Gajc-Wolska et al (2005) found that sweet pepper fruits cultivated on mulch with straw contained significantly more vitamin C compared to those cultivated on polypropylene fibre mulch.…”

“…Changes in yields and nutrient content due to soil mulching were found by Samaila et al (2011a, b) in tomato fruits, by Najafabadi et al (2012) in garlic, by Olfati et al (2008) in carrot roots and by Sekhon at al. (2008) and Gajc-Wolska et al (2005) in sweet pepper.…”

Management of Cereal Crop Residues for Sustainable Rice-wheat Production System in the Indo-gangetic Plains of India

“…The beneficial effects of this practice to improve crop yields at comparable irrigation regimes and saving of irrigation water and fertilizer nitrogen at comparable yields have been reported in several crops e.g. in forage maize, sugarcane, sunflower, soybean, potato and chillies by reducing the evaporation (E) component of the ET and acting as barrier to vapour flow, and moderating soil temperature (Arora et al 2011, Jalota et al 2007, Sekhon et al 2008, Yadvinder-Singh et al 2010b. The magnitude of yield gain in different crops ranged from 4 to 29% and saving of irrigation water from 7 to 40 cm.…”