Nitrogen scheduling in maize in relation to tillage interventions and planting methods in Indian Punjab

Climate change and faster depletion of natural resources highlighted the importance of conservation agriculture. To study the effect of different tillage interventions and planting methods on productivity, soil properties and profitability of maize and to optimize the time of nitrogen application in maize under different tillage and planting methods, a field experiment was conducted during kharif 2017 and 2018 in split plot design with four combinations of tillage systems and planting methods [conventional tillage + flat sowing (T1), conventional tillage + bed sowing (T2), zero tillage + flat sowing (T3), zero tillage + bed sowing (T4)] in main plots and four schedules of nitrogen application including recommended (1/3 N as basal, 1/3 N at knee high stage and 1/3 N at flowering stage) (N1), 1/2 N as basal and 1/2 N at knee high stage (N2), 1/2 N as basal, 1/4 N at knee high stage and 1/4 N at waist high stage (N3) and 1/3 N as basal, 1/3 N at knee high stage and 1/3 N at waist high stage (N4) in sub-plots with three replications. Similar grain yield was obtained with different tillage and planting methods as well as with different time of N application treatments. The bed sowing helped in achieving 33.4% higher water productivity over flat sowing. The net returns were higher by Rs 5382 ha-1 under zero-till flat sowing than conventional-till flat sowing. So, advanced time of N application along with permanent bed planting can be adopted profitably for improved productivity