Effect of tillage and crop establishment methods on yield and economics of cotton

In Haryana (India) cotton is generally sown with conventional tillage practices witnesses poor germination and plant establishment. Poor plant stand is attributed by burning of emerging plants due to very high temperature at the time of planting, which is further worsen by crust formation due to pre-monsoon showers. Keeping these points in view, an experiment was conducted with farmers' participatory research mode in village Hajwana of Kaithal district. Cotton sown with zero tillage technique resulted in approximately five percent higher yield i.e. 136.3 kg ha-1 over conventional tillage. Mean returns over variable cost of all the three years were 10.8 percent i.e. Rs. 11794 ha-1 more in zero tillage over conventional tillage. Benefit: cost ratio were 3.86, 3.86 and 4.61 in conventional method of planting, bed planting and zero tillage technique, respectively. Zero tillage planting of cotton reduced fuel consumption by 93.4 % and 91.7 % compared to bed planting and conventional planting respectively.