PERFORMANCE OF MAIZE UNDER CONSERVATION TILLAGE

M.R. YADAV¹*, C.M. PARIHAR², RAKESH KUMAR³, R.K. MEENA⁴, A.P. VERMA⁵, R.K. YADAV⁶, HARDEV RAM⁷, TARAMANI YADAV⁸, MAGAN SINGH⁹, S.L. JAT¹⁰, ARPITA SHARMA^11
1ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
²ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, New Delhi, 110012
³ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
⁴ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
⁵ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
⁶ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110012
⁷ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
⁸ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
⁹ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
¹⁰ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research, New Delhi, 110012
¹¹ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, 132001
* Corresponding Author : raomaluydv@gmail.com

Received : 05-04-2016     Accepted : 06-06-2016     Published : 24-09-2016
Volume : 8     Issue : 39       Pages : 1802 - 1805
Int J Agr Sci 8.39 (2016):1802-1805

Keywords : Bed Planting, Conservation tillage, Maize and Zero tillage
Academic Editor : Swathi Lekkala, Rahulgandhi Burra
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : None declared
Author Contribution : None declared

Tillage is one of the basic agro-technical operations in agriculture because of its influence on soil properties, environment and crop growth. Since, continuous soil tillage strongly influences the soil physico-chemical and biological environment, hence, it is important to follow appropriate tillage practices that avoid the degradation of soil structure, maintain crop yield as well as ecosystem stability. Conventional mode of tillage associated with soil compaction, reduced soil organic matter and soil microbial diversity. Repeated tillage leads to sub-soil compaction, which is associated with the reduced beneficial use of water and nutrient recovery by crop plants. Recently, conservation agriculture (CA) based crop management practices involving lesser soil disturbance, soil cover and cost-effective cropping sequences found to be useful in lowering the production cost besides providing environmental services in terms of lower carbon emission and improved soil health. So, there is a need for adoption of the conservation agriculture in India for harnessing crop production profitability and making soil more productive with more environmental and social benefits. The literature about the performance of maize (Zea mays L.) under conservation tillage practices viz. zero tillage, permanent bed planting and reduced tillage are reviewed in this paper.