Prof. U. P. Singh

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Wheat Production Technologies for Eastern UP

• Prof. U. P. Singh
• Department of Agronomy,
• Institute of Agricultural Sciences,
• B.H.U. Varanasi, U.P. (India)

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Challenges for Food Security

• Exploding population little control / No
  control
• Harvested area shrinking (?)- crop
  intensification
• Greater competition for land, labor and water-
  good land diverted to other sectors
• Increasing production costs
• Climate change more apparent terminal heat,
  rusts etc.
• Resource fatigue - Reducing factor productivity,
  land degradation
• One size fits all approach and untrained
  extension staff.

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Issues Realized And Solutions
Issues Solution
Poor land leveling Precise leveling of lands
Water shortages GW development, save water, reduce evaporation, weed control
Poor quality seed Use of quality seeds
Weed infestation Integrated weed management
Spray techniques and equipment Timely availability of suitable spray equipments and proper use of spray techniques
Low tendency of herbicide use Popularize and change in mind set for appropriate herbicide use
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Issues Solution
Machinery problem (operational) Machines perfections For loose residue situations Supply of improved quality machines
Diversification of R-W system Adequate irrigation facilities and community approach for diversification
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Meeting the Food Security Challenge

• Conservation Agriculture (CA) is now a globally
  accepted agro-ecological approach to sustainable
  intensification of crop production.
• CA comprises resource conserving agricultural
  production practices that aim to produce more at
  less costs while enhancing the quality of the
  natural resource base.
• CA is all about generating multiple options for
  farmers who are endowed differentially.

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Conservation Agriculture Means Dramatic Tillage
Reductions Combined with Adequate Surface
Retention of Crop Residues Conventional Till
Systems CA Zero Till Systems
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CA is Enhanced by Diversified, Economical Crop
Rotations
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Properly Managed CA Encourages Sustainable Soil
Management
Chemical Soil Quality
Soil Organic Matter
Physical Soil Quality
Biological Soil Quality
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Conservation Agriculture enhances biological
tillage instead of mechanical tillage
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Resource Conserving Technologies (RCTs)
Conventional
RCTs

1. No-tillage
2. Laser land leveling
3. Direct seeding of rice
4. Leaf colour chart for N
5. Crop diversification

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Resource conservation technologies in rice-wheat
systems
Tillage Conventional Unpuddled Raised bed Zero-tillage
Tillage
Crop establishment Transplanting Direct-drill-seeding
Crop establishment
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CA based RCTs options for System sustainability

• Zero tillage
• Paired row ZT
• Control traffic ZT
• Direct seeding
• Unpuddled transplanting
• Reduced tillage
• Bed planting
• Surface seeding

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• Zero Tillage A cost effective and input use
  efficient technology

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Advantages of Zero Tillage

• Reduced costs (Rs 2000-2500/ha) due to savings in
  fuel and labor
• Timely planting of kharif and winter season
  crops, resulting in higher yields
• Lower density of herbicide resistance in
  comparison to traditional tillage.
• Significant irrigation water savings (up to
  15-20)
• Improved input use efficiency because of the
  right placement of seed and fertilizer nutrients
• Better plant stands
• Less burning of crop resides

Zero Till (ZT) Wheat Seeding
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Permanent FIRB (Residue managed)
Wheat
Mungbean
Rice
Wheat
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Rotavator An emerging issues

• Increased seed rate (160 kg/ha)
• Promote sowing by broadcasting the seed
• Enhanced weed problem of Phalaris minor/ other
  weeds
• Use of Rotavator - soil compaction - symptomatic
  problems -crop lodging and water logging
  /chlorosis
• Farmers have to apply additional N / P to
  overcome yellowing
• Low productivity (less tillering, small earhead
  grain size and low grain weight )
• Rotavators donot operate in presence of
  residues 4-5 T/ ha
• Rotavator use promote burning of crop residues.
• Rotavator use need to be Banned

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CA Planters for Small-Scale Farmers
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No-tillage is a win-win technology
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No-till wheat is more tolerant to abrupt
temperature rise Climate change adaptation
RCTs can help Agriculture in Beating the Heat
Conventional
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Improved Technological options for wheat
Zero-tillage Zero-tillage with controlled
traffic Zero tillage paired row ( 5 more yield
gain) Bed planting saves seed , water and
labor, improves grain quality and Yield.
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Partial Budgeting of CA baed RCTs in wheat
Particular Farmers practice (US ha-1) ZT Wheat (US ha-1)
Cost (input)
1. Seed 27 24
2. Tillage 61 29
3. Fertilizer 67 64
4. Irrigation 19 14
5. Labour 40 36
6. Herbicide/pesticide 24. 30
7. Harvesting threshing 49 48
Total variable cost 287 244
Benefit (output)
Return from produce 459 567
Net benefit 172 322
Net return over FP - 150
Benefit-cost ratio 0.60 1.32
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Wheat grain yield, tillage costs and net income
under different tillage and crop establishment
methods (average of three years)
Treatment Farmer No. Grain yield (Mg ha-1) Tillage cost (US ha-1) Net income (US ha-1)
Farmer Practice 152 3.0 b 44 a 375 b
Fresh Bed Planted 17 4.4 a 38 a 628 a
ZT-Planted 222 3.5 ab 0 b 512 a
Means within a column followed by the same letter
are not significantly different at the 0.05 level
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Wheat Productivity (t/ha) as influenced by CA
based permanent bed planting and CT in Rice-Wheat
system
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Suggested work plan for cluster demonstrations
wheat during Rabi season 2011-12 in Eastern U.P
Sites CA based RCTs Demonstration/promotion on Wheat
1. Chandauli Village clusters 2. Ghazipur Village clusters Seed priming and treatment Cultivar choices Zero tillage Wheat Paired row planting and Controlled traffic Dry seeding and post sowing irrigation Residue managed zero tillage wheat Surface seeded- wheat Low lying areas Introduction of improved Zero-till drills Promote custom service of Zero till machines Residue management and Basal N Management Multi-boom sprayers -Flat fan nozzles Adapting to terminal heat in wheat Relay planting of Mungbean Travelling Seminar / Training on 'better bet' conservation agriculture based practices
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Thank you