The use of the right tillage technique can help promote higher earnings, crop productivity, soil improvement, and the most effective use of available water resources. The field experiment was conducted in the Vidor Hill torrent command area of Dera Ghazi Khan Punjab, Pakistan during the winter of 2021-22. In this experiment, tillage treatments including cultivator and rotavator were assessed as follows i.e. T1= 2-times cultivator (farmer practice), T2=3-times cultivator, T3=2-times cultivator + rotavator, T4= cultivator + rotavator. The trial was laid out under RCBD and treatments in the experiment were repeated thrice. Soil moisture % and yield parameters including number of siliquae plant-1, 1000 seed weight (g), biological yield (kg ha-1), seed yield (kg ha-1) and harvest index (%) were estimated as per standard procedures. The means were tested for significance using HSD Tuckey’s test at a 5 % probability level. Results showed that the highest soil moisture conservation, number of siliquae per plant (106.41), number of seeds per siliquae (21.39), seed yield (570 kg ha-1) and harvest index (32.92%) were noticed from the farmer practice i.e. 2 times cultivator. Whereas, statistically comparative results were also observed from the treatment such as 2 times cultivator combined with rotavator at Vidor hill torrent command area of Dera Ghazi Khan Punjab, Pakistan. Under 2 times cultivator (Farmer Practice), the benefit-cost ratio (1.41) was highest as compared to the benefit-cost ratio (1.28) observed from 2 times cultivator accompanied with a rotavator. Among newly tested tillage treatments 2 times cultivator followed by rotavator showed promising results in hill torrents-based arugula production. Hence under the prevailing agro normals, farmers of hill torrent-based production systems may use 2 times cultivator for land preparation for better arugula productivity in hill torrent-based crop production systems.
Enhancing cereal crop production to feed the largely growing population is an important approach towards maintaining food security. Fertilizer management is the major component of crop production requiring special attention for sustainable application. Integrated nutrient management (INM) is an evolving idea, which appears to contribute to sustainable nutrient management. A field study was designed to see the impact of INM on a maize–wheat cropping system during winter (wheat) and summer (maize) season at Agronomic Research Farm, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan. Both wheat and maize crops were grown consecutively along with full inorganic fertilizer (NPK) as well as with partial dose of fertilizer (25%, 50%, 75% NPK) supplemented with or without the addition of biochar (5 ton/ha). Data were collected regarding crop growth, yield and quality and further analyzed using MSTAT-C statistics software. Results revealed that the INM approach (75% of NPK + Biochar) enabled crops to improve dry matter production and its translocation towards sink which in turn boosted the crop productivity. This treatment improved dry matter (19%, 57%), grain weight (44%, 54%), grain yield (60%, 63%) and harvest index (30%, 29%) over the control in maize and wheat crops. It also improved the nutrient uptake in the plants which in turn improved the nutrient contents in the grains. Similarly, crops recorded higher system productivity (USD 790, USD 830) in both years and were found to be economically sustainable under INM. It was concluded that an INM strategy (75% of NPK + Biochar) can improve the productivity and sustainability of a maize–wheat cropping system to maintain the food security.
An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of C. procera fresh leaves extract on cotton growth and vigor during seedling and early establishment stage. The trial was carried out in randomized complete block designed (RCBD) with 3 replications and 4 treatments viz., distilled water, 15%, 30% and 45% solution of Calotropis procera fresh leaves extracts. Data regarding the cotton seedling vigor and growth was collected and mean value of each trait were statistically compared through HSD Tukey’s test (P ≤ 0.05). The highest shoot length seedling-1 (252.25 mm), root length seedling-1 (98.33 mm), stem diameter seedling-1 (0.35 mm) and dry weight of the shoot seedling-1 (0.85 g) was noticed in distilled water treatment. Leaf extract treatments caused significant reduction in seedling vigor and growth. The highest reduction was noticed when treated with 45% aqueous extract of C. procera. The above-mentioned treatment caused significant reduction in various seedling traits, which may hinder early establishment of cotton crop. Therefore, the farmers should remove the dense population of C. procera around cotton fields to avoid allelopathic effects of weed and to reduce damaging effects on early growing cotton plants.
Flooding stress declines oxygen availability in roots that induce hypoxia stress in plants, thereby severely decline plant growth. Study was undertaken to clarify how potassium supplementation alleviates flooding stress in cotton plants. We applied potassium (K) fertilizer in pot soils at different levels; K0 = Control (No K), K1 = 30 mg kg−1, K2 = 60 mg kg−1 and K3 = 80 mg kg−1 with different duration of flooding stress s. D0 = Normal irrigation (0 day flooding), D1 = three days flooding, D2 = six days flooding, D3 = nine days flooding, D4 = twelve days flooding. The K supplementation (80 mg kg−1) in soil with 3-day flooding stress showed better combination for mitigating flooding stress. The supplementation of K3 dose (80 mg kg−1) alleviated flooding against 3-day initial flooding (D1) of which physiological traits showed better response compared to prolonged flooding stress (12-day flooding stress). The result suggests that K-involving flooding stress mitigation strategy in cotton plants was active for initial flooding stress (3-day flooding stress), while it was not fully active for pronged (upto 12-day flooding stress). Furthermore, we found K significantly improved antioxidant enzymes, photosynthetic performance, yield attributes, and lint quality.
Abstract Rainfed wheat is generally grown in rotation with summer fallow in medium to high rainfall zone of Pothwar plateau of Pakistan. The present study was, therefore, conducted to investigate the impact of shallow and deep tillage practices, with and without herbicide (glyphosate) application, on moisture conservation and subsequent wheat yields. The study also aimed to examine the feasibility of substituting intensive shallow tillage with single application of glyphosate. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replicates and net plot size of 14 m x 10 m, during 2007 and 2008 at two locations i.e high and medium rainfall. Wheat cultivar “GA-2002” was planted as a test crop. The data showed the superiority of conservation tillage in terms of conservation of moisture and increasing grain yields. Results also elaborated that tillage cannot be completely eliminated for profitable fallow management. However, deep ploughing with moldboard followed by single application of glyphosate proved potential option for substituting shallow tillage carried out during summer (kharif). The additional benefits under this tillage system included saving in fuel, labour and lower depreciation and maintenance costs for tillage machinery in addition to unquantifiable environmental benefits.
The information on combined effect of seeding time and competition period on weeds, phenology and yield of directly sown rice is very limited. Field experiments were conducted for two years during 2008 and 2009 to study these effects. Rice cultivar “Super basmati” was seeded during 1st and 3rd week of June and 1st week of July and weeds were allowed to compete for 15, 30, 45, 60 days after seeding (DAS). Weed free treatment along with a weedy check was also maintained for comparison. Interaction effect of seeding time and competition period was significant. Weed crop competition until 15 DAS gave statistically similar kernel yield to weed free in different seeding times with better yield in plots sown in first week of June during both years. However an increase in competition period from 15 DAS to 30 DAS could not exhibit significant differences. Further increase in competition periods increased the weed density and biomass with significant reduction in yield. So rice may be direct seeded in first week of June and weeds be controlled from 15 to 30 DAS in direct seeded culture in agro physiological conditions of Faisalabad (Pakistan). However more research is needed on checking the competition between weeds and direct seeded rice in terms of density of weeds. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n5p55
Disease infestation in crop plants can be reduced by choosing the most suitable sowing date for different cultivars of the same crop.A two-year study was conducted to know the best sowing date for cotton on silt loam soil in a sub-tropical arid climate.Two cotton cultivars i.e.CIM-612 and CIM-573 were sown for two consecutive years.Moreover, CIM-591 was grown in year 1 and Cyto-124 in year 2, at five different dates (April 15, May 01, May 15, June 01 and June 15).By delaying the sowing, plant height, number of bolls per plant and seed cotton yield (kg ha -1 ) was decreased while cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) incidence (%) was increased gradually.All the varieties in general sown earlier showed higher yield and reduced incidence of CLCuD.However, among non-Bt cultivars, performance of CIM-612 was overall better when sown on April 15 during both the years with minimum CLCuD incidence and improved seed cotton productivity.Hence non-Bt cotton cultivar CIM-612 may be sown on April 15 in cotton core zone of Punjab (Pakistan).
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