scholarly journals Economic Evaluation of Rice-Maize-Green Manure Cropping System under Different Tillage and Weed Management Practices in Conservation Agriculture

Author(s):  
P. Leela Rani M. Yakadri
Author(s):  
B. Sandhya Rani ◽  
V. Chandrika ◽  
G. Prabhakara Reddy ◽  
P. Sudhakar ◽  
K.V. Nagamadhuri ◽  
...  

Background: Maize followed by summer pulses is the emerging cropping system in many places in India. Herbicides are the efficient tools for checking weed infestation and their usage is increasing throughout the globe due to increased labour cost and quick weed control. Some herbicides do not degrade quickly and may remain in the soil for weeks, months or years after application and may inhibit the growth of succeeding crops. Methods: Field experiment was conducted in a randomized block design (RBD) during rabi and summer seasons of 2017-18 and 2018-19 to know the residual effect of different herbicides applied in maize on succeeding greengram. Result: The present study revealed that lower density and dry weight of total weeds and higher yield attributes and yield was recorded with the practice of adopting two hand weedings at 15 and 30 DAS, which was however, at par with atrazine 1.0 kg ha-1 as PE fb one HW at 30 DAS, atrazine 1.0 kg ha-1 as PE fb topramezone 30 g ha-1 as PoE and atrazine 1.0 kg ha-1 as PE fb tembotrione 120 g ha-1 as PoE, without any significant disparity among them. Herbicides applied in maize did not alter statistically the enzyme activity and microbial count in the soil at harvest of succeeding greeengram. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gosaye Eshetu ◽  
Yekedem Bimrew ◽  
Hassen Shifa

Field survey was conducted in south eastern Ethiopia to determine the disease intensity of chocolate spot and rust and to investigate the association of disease intensity (incidence and severity) with environmental factors and crop cultural practices. A total of 280 faba bean fields were surveyed in eight districts, and type of cropping system, weed management practices, crop growth stage, previous crop in the field, and sowing date were recorded. The associations of disease intensity with independent variables were evaluated using logistic regression model. Mean disease incidence of chocolate spot varied from 70.9 to 93.2% in most fields while percentage severity index (PSI) ranged from 10.5 to 47.1%. In a reduced multiple variable model, chocolate PSI ≤ 30% showed high probability of association with mixed cropping system, good weed management practices, late planting, and when faba bean was rotated with vegetables and cereals. The mean disease incidence of faba bean rust was varied from 23.6 to 78.2%, while the mean PSI of rust was varied from 4.8 to 37.9%. In Gasera, Dinsho, and Agarfa districts, poor weed management practices, fields planted in the month of July, and when previous crop was legume had a high probability of association to (>20) rust PSI in a multiple variable reduced model. In contrast, soil types, fertilizer applied, and fungicides sprayed were not associated with disease intensity. The present study has identified cropping system, planting date, previous crop, district, and weed management practices as important variables that influence faba bean chocolate spot and rust epidemics in diversified fields. Therefore, proper weeding management practices, late planting, crop rotation habit, and other related farm practices should be carried out to reduce chocolate spot and rust impact until resistant faba bean genotypes are developed and distributed to the area.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costanza Ceccanti ◽  
Marco Landi ◽  
Daniele Antichi ◽  
Lucia Guidi ◽  
Luigi Manfrini ◽  
...  

The sustainability of current farming systems has been questioned in the last decades, especially in terms of the environmental impact and mitigation of global warming. Also, the organic sector, which is supposed to impact less on the environment than other more intensive systems, is looking for innovative solutions to improve its environmental sustainability. Promisingly, the integration of organic management practices with conservation agriculture techniques may help to increase environmental sustainability of food production. However, little is known about the possible impact of conservation agriculture on the content of bioactive compounds in cash crops. For this reason, a two-year rotation experiment used 7 cash crops (4 leafy vegetables and 3 fruit crops) to compare integrated (INT), organic farming (ORG), and organic no-tillage (ORG+) systems to evaluate the possible influence of cropping systems on the nutritional/nutraceutical values of the obtained fruits and leafy vegetables. The results pointed out specific responses based on the species as well as the year of cultivation. However, cultivation with the ORG+ cropping system resulted in effective obtainment of fruits and vegetables with higher levels of bioactive compounds in several cases (11 out 16 observations). The ORG+ cropping system results are particularly promising for leafy vegetable cultivation, especially when ORG+ is carried out on a multi-year basis. Aware that the obtained data should be consolidated with longer-term experiments, we conclude that this dataset may represent a good starting point to support conservation agriculture systems as a possible sustainable strategy to obtain products with higher levels of bioactive compounds.


Weed Science ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 919-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam S. Davis ◽  
Matt Liebman

Manipulation of cropping systems to improve weed management requires a better understanding of how crop- and soil-related factors affect weed life cycles. Our objective was to assess the impacts of timing of primary tillage and use of legume green manure on giant foxtail demography and soil properties. We measured giant foxtail seed survival and dormancy, seedling emergence and survival, and fecundity, in addition to soil phytotoxicity, chemical properties affecting soil fertility and soil water, in the transition between the wheat and corn phases of a wheat–corn–soybean crop sequence. Postdispersal predation of giant foxtail seeds was measured in all three phases of the crop sequence. Wheat was grown either as a sole crop (W) or underseeded with red clover (R), and residues from this phase were rototilled either in the fall (FT) or in spring (ST). There were strong interactions between Red clover and Tillage timing in their effects on giant foxtail recruitment and fecundity in corn. Giant foxtail seedling emergence was 30% lower, and time to 50% emergence was more than 1 wk later, in the ST/R treatment than in the ST/W, FT/W, and FT/R treatments, which did not differ. However, fecundity of giant foxtail was 200% greater in the ST/R treatment than in the other three treatments because of suppressed early corn growth. The net effect of the ST/R treatment on giant foxtail demography in corn was to greatly increase inputs to the seedbank compared with the ST/W, FT/W, and FT/R treatments. Giant foxtail demography in the wheat phase was also affected by Red clover. There was a 200% increase in daily rates of postdispersal seed predation in the wheat phase of the R treatment compared with the W treatment. High-seed predation in the wheat phase and low fecundity in the corn phase of the FT/R treatment suggest that population growth rate of giant foxtail will be lower in this treatment than in the other treatments. The degree of soil phytotoxicity from red clover residues, the changes in the amount of interference from the corn crop early in the growing season, and the differential suitability of crop residues in the different rotations as habitat for seed predators all contributed to changes in giant foxtail demography. Understanding the effects of cropping system characteristics on entire weed life cycles will facilitate the design of integrated suites of complementary weed management tactics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-335
Author(s):  
Saugat Dahal ◽  
Tika Bahadur Karki ◽  
Lal Prasad Amgain ◽  
Birendra Kumar Bhattachan

With the aim of developing crop management technologies that reduce the yield gap of maize (Zea mays L.) in Nepal, a study was carried-out to determine whether the grain yield of maize could be manipulated through tillage, residue, and nutrient and weed management practices. The effect of tillage (conventional and no tillage), residue (residue retained and residue removed), fertilizer (recommended doses of fertilizer and farmers’ doses of fertilizer) and weed management practices (herbicide use and manual weeding) on phenology and grain yield of maize were investigated under maize-rice cropping system in Rampur, Nepal during 2013. The experimental results revealed that no tillage had significant effect on grain yield (6.64 Mg ha-1) and phenological parameters like days to silking, physiological maturity and seed fill duration. Similarly, residue retained treatment had significant effect on grain yield (7.02 Mg ha-1) and phenological parameters. Research dose of fertilizer had significant effect on phenological parameters and grain yield (8.42 Mg ha-1). However, weed management factor did not influence significantly on grain yield and phenological parameters. The grain yield increased in no tillage by 23.19% over conventional tillage, residue retained by 39.84% over residue removed, recommended doses of fertilizer by 132.60% over farmer dose of fertilizer. Thus, no tillage, residue retention, recommended doses of fertilizer and use of herbicide for weed management can be alternative technologies for sustainable higher grain yield. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v2i3.11001Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol. 2(3): 328-335  


Weed management is a new term for the age-old practice of employing all available means, in a planned way, to keep weed populations under control. It seeks to distinguish the systematic approach to weed control, based on scientific knowledge and rational strategies, from the pragmatic destruction of weeds. The remarkable efficiency of herbicides has in recent years emphasized the latter and allowed revolutionary methods of crop production to be practised. These have, however, led to serious new weed problems which in turn require more intensive herbicide use. The need for a weed management approach is increasingly recognized. New opportunities for this are provided by the availability of numerous herbicides and plant growth regulators and a growing understanding of the biology, ecology and population dynamics of weeds in relation to crop production systems. Examples discussed include: systematic control of grass weeds in intensive cereals in Britain, weed control in rice and in soybeans, the control of aquatic weeds by biological and chemical methods and an experimental zero-tillage cropping system for the humid tropics based on herbicides, growth regulators and ground-cover leguminous crops. In such management systems, interference of weed behaviour by exogenous growth regulators is likely to be of increasing significance. Constraints on the adoption of weed management practices include lack of support for weed science as a discipline, limited appeal to the agrochemical industry and inadequate extension services in many countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélanie Surchat ◽  
Alexander Wezel ◽  
Vincent Tolon ◽  
Tor Arvid Breland ◽  
Philippe Couraud ◽  
...  

In the context of climate change, French Polynesia is committed to increasing qualitatively and quantitatively local food production. In this regard, agroecology is perceived as a sustainable pathway to improve farming practices. This article proposes first a theoretical framework to analyze the proximity of farmers' management to agroecological principles. Second, it describes the current use of agroecological pest and soil management practices by French Polynesian farmers. And third, it explains which agronomic and socio-economic factors drive the implementation of agroecological practices. For this, qualitative interviews were conducted with 32 farmers on three islands, and statistical analyses were carried for correlation between the use of practices and socio-economic variables. Results show that French Polynesian farmers implement different soil and pest management practices that are in line with agroecological principles. Farmers scored better in terms of pest management with high plant diversity, implementation of crop rotations, and mechanical weed management. There is a significant influence of the “cropping system” and the “production system” (organic, integrated, and conventional) on the use of practices as well as proximity to agroecological principles. Identified pathways for an agroecological transition are implementing farmer to farmer knowledge exchange, farmer networks, and farm demonstrations as well as training of extension services staff.


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