Influence of Different Tillage Practices on Yield of Autumn Planted Maize (Zea mays L.)
Influence of Different Tillage Practices on Yield of Autumn Planted Maize (Zea mays L.)
Shakeel Ahmad Anjum1, Muhammad Mohsin Raza2, Sami Ullah1, 3*, Malik Muhammad Yousaf2, Ahmad Mujtaba1, Mumtaz Hussain2, Muhammad Jahangir Shah2, Bashir Ahmad2 and Ijaz Ahmad4
ABSTRACT
Crop establishment is mainly based on techniques used for good seed bed preparation. The objective of this study was to check the influence of various tillage practices on yield of the autumn planted maize crop. The experiment was conducted in summer, 2014 at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications. Net plot size was maintained 7.0 m × 3.6 m. Different tillage practices, i.e., deep tillage, conventional tillage, minimum tillage, simple cultivation flat sowing, simple cultivation ridge sowing, zero tillage dibbling and zero tillage drill were performed as the experimental treatments. Results showed that maize hybrid sown under deep tillage gave the maximum grain yield (7.2 t ha-1), number of grains cob-1 (528), 1000-grain weight (265 g), plant height (205 cm), plant population (7.2 plants m-2) and stem diameter (1.58 cm), cob length (19.1 cm), biological yield (19.5 t ha-1) and harvest index (37.0%), while lowest grain yield (3.08 t ha-1), number of grains per cob (319), 1000 grain weight (204 g), plant height (174 cm), plant population (6.2 plants m-2), stem diameter (1.28 cm), cob length (14.9 cm), biological yield (12.1 t ha-1) and harvest index (30.5%) were obtained from the zero tillage at (p≤0.05). Economically, maize sown in deep tillage gave maximum net income of Rs 99753 ha-1 with VCR (1.75), whereas minimum net income of Rs 13703 ha-1 with VCR (1.12) where zero tillage drilling system was adopted. Our study demonstrated that deep tillage is better option for yield enhancement under Faisalabad conditions.
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