PLANTING OF WHEAT WITH HAPPY SEEDER AND ROTAVATOR IN RICE STUBBLES

On farm research trials were carried out for promoting of happy seeder and rotavator technology for sowing of wheat in the standing stubbles of rice during 2009-10. Data recorded on grain and straw yield of rice from the field of selected farmers to know the average straw yield during kharif of 2009. It was about 10.0, 9.6, 9.4 and 8.1 tha-1 in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Kapurthala and Jalandhar of Punjab, respectively. The paddy straw burning is practiced for early vacant of rice fields for sowing of wheat with conventional tillage and lost with this method average of 33.66 kgha-1 available nitrogen, 7.48 kgha-1 phosphorous and 65.85 kgha-1 potassium. But this quantity returns to the soil with the planting of wheat in the stubbles with happy seeder and rotavator and helps to improve the soil health. The results revealed that the happy seeder (zero tillage) and rotavator (reduced tillage) produced the comparable grain yield to farmer's practice, which are also observed the suitable methods for in-situ management of paddy straw. However, happy seeder is the most efficient method to reduce the expenditure on seed bed preparation with saving the fuel and time and to manage the rice straw and improve the soil productivity. The root mass density was higher in happy seeder and farmer's practice plots at all soil depth than rotavator plots. The maximum root mass was confined to 0-15 cm layer of soil. The bulk density in all the layers under rotavator was generally higher than the conventional tillage and happy seeder sown field at all the locations. The lower bulk density values were recorded in happy seeder than rotavator and conventional tillage sown wheat fields. The porosity was lower in rotavator and farmers ' practice as compared to happy seeder at all the soil depths