Conservation Agriculture Mechanization Practices for Small Holders under Soybean-wheat Cropping Pattern

Abstract

The field study was conducted under wheat-soybean cropping pattern during Kharif and Rabi with wheat crops at ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering Bhopal to identify the appropriate package of animal drawn implements suitable to small and marginal farmers for conservation agriculture. Different tillage treatments viz. no-tillage, minimum tillage and conventional tillage system were adopted using animal power during the field experiments. The grain yield was found significantly higher in minimum tillage and conventional tillage as compared to no-till for all cropping patterns. Additionally, minimum tillage saves 20% more operational cost and 34% operational energy as compared to conventional tillage. The average soil cone index was found in the range of 1.32 to 1.42 MPa with different tillage treatments. The soil bulk density was found in the range of 1.20 to 1.22 for all tillage conditions. The soil organic carbon was found significantly higher in the next after second year of practice in the case no-tillage (0.64) and minimum tillage (0.60) as compared to conventional (0.55).The result indicated that practice of conservation agriculture through minimum tillage is possible in soybean-wheat crop rotation through animal power that could be benefited for small and marginal farmers and performed better timeliness in operations.