Effect of Mulching Practices on Soil Moisture and Yield of Forage Crops

One of the main impediments in the way of improvement of livestock production is insufficiency of fodder. The gap between supply and demand would further aggravate due to increase in livestock population. In eastern India and Bengal delta land is usually devoted to fodder crops beyond monsoon when soil moisture becomes a limiting factor for crop production. Appropriate soil moisture conservation practices may reduce the evaporation loss and increase the yield. Among the different soil water conservation measures, mulching has gained popularity because it reduces the direct evaporation loss of soil water by restricting the transport of water vapour from soil surface to the adjoining microclimate. Although a number of researchers have evaluated the positive effect of mulching in different crops, information is lacking in fodder crops from lower gangetic plains. The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of mulching on soil moisture and yield of different forage crops