Effect of Tillage and Residue Retention on Soil Properties and Crop Yields in Wheat-Mungbean-Rice Crop Rotation under Subtropical Humid Climate

Abstract

The effects of conservation agriculture (CA) practices on soil properties along with crop yields of rice-based triple cropping systems have not been adequately assessed in Bangladesh. An experiment was conducted at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh from 2009 to 2012 to assess the effects of tillage practices and crop residue retention on soil physical properties, soil organic carbon (SOC) and crop yields in a wheat-mungbeanrice system. Treatments consisted of three tillage practices (MT: minimum tillage; CT: conventional tillage and DT: deep tillage) and eight levels of crop residue management (S 0 -no residues retention, S r -retention of 30 cm rice straw, S m -whole mungbean stover retention, S W -30 cm wheat straw retention, S mr -whole mungbean stover & 30 cm rice straw retention, S rw -30 cm rice & wheat straw retention, S mw -whole mungbean stover & 30 cm wheat straw retention and S wrm -30 cm wheat and rice straw along with whole mungbean stover retention) were applied in split plot design with three replications. Bulk density (BD) and porosity responded positively to MT and increased residue retention of all crops (p > 0.05). Minimum tillage and S wrm also significantly accumulated SOC (p < 0.05; 0.38% higher than DT with no residue retention) and retained soil moisture (p < 0.05). Minimum tillage practice performed better in upland crops (p < 0.05; wheat & mungbean yields) and CT outperformed MT in wetland rice crop (p < 0.05). The grain and straw yields of wheat and rice were also influenced by previous crop residue retentions (p < 0.05). The results, therefore, suggested that increased residue 2 retention with minimum tillage practices improved soil properties and yield of upland crops but with deeper tillage practices consistently maintained wetland rice production.

Response of rice to different organic and inorganic nutrient sources at Parwanipur, Bara district of Nepal

“…Mahapatra (1990) found that one third of the inorganic N can be substituted by applying rice or wheat straw at the time of planting to give similar rice yields. Similar results were also reported by Salahin et al (2017); Sidhu and Beri (1988);Dhar et al (2014).…”

Effect of conservation agriculture practices on soil quality, productivity, and profitability of peanut‐based system of Saurashtra, India

“…Bhatt (2017) and Jat et al (2015) also found higher soil moisture content under ZT and MT, respectively, over CT. Residue retention improved soil moisture content at both the depths at podding, seed formation and at harvest as compared to NR (p < .05). These results corroborate the findings of Salahin et al (2017), who reported higher soil moisture content with residue retention. Greater surface cover by crop residues has been shown to enhance soil moisture content by increasing infiltration and reducing evaporation (Thierfelder & Wall, 2009).…”

Assessing soil properties and nutrient availability under conservation agriculture practices in a reclaimed sodic soil in cereal-based systems of North-West India

“…There is an improvement in numerous parameters of soil health (physical, chemical and biological quality) under conservation tillage by increasing carbon and nutrients concentration at the surface soil (Singh et al 2015; Salahin et al 2017). Advantages of zero tillage (ZT) after burning or removal of crop residues in the RWCS were reported in the IGP, particularly in NW India (Erenstein and Laxmi 2008).…”