Pradeep Prasad

Impact of Different Tillage Practices with Weed Management Methods on Growth, Yield and Economics of Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice is one of the most important cereal crops and provides food security and livelihood for millions of people across the globe. It is the main staple food of India, covering an area of about 43.97 m ha with the total production and productivity of 104.32 mt and 2.37 t/ha respectively during 2011-12 (Annonymous 2013 a). In India, rice plays an important role in the economy aswell as in rural livelihoods and is the staple food crop, second only to wheat. Major rice cultivation method used is manual transplanting of nursery grown seedlings into puddled soil. Puddling is a process of cultivating soil in standing water which consumes large amount of water. Moreover, as water resources are depleting International J. Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 1665-1672 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

Effect of Integrated Nutrient Management on Productivity and Profitability of Maize

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal crop next to wheat and rice belonging to family Poaceae. In India, it is cultivated in an area of 9.43 m ha with a production of 24.35 m t and productivity of 2583 kg ha -1 (GOI, 2012). It is used as a source of carbohydrate to humans and animals due to its high feeding value (Undie et al., 2012). Maize is used as food, feed and nowadays it is gaining tremendous importance on account of its potential uses in manufacturing starch, rayon, adhesives, resins, dye, boot polish etc. and due to this it is rightly called “miracle crop” and also known as “queen of cereals”. Intensive cultivation, use of unbalanced and inadequate fertilizers accompanied by restricted use of manures have made the soils not only deficient in the nutrients but also deteriorated soil health resulting in decline in crop response to recommended dose of fertilizers. Thus, Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) has assumed a great importance and has vital significance in maintaining soil productivity. Organic manures viz. FYM, vermicompost etc. not only supply macronutrients, meet the requirements of micronutrients, improve soil health and also increases water holding capacity of the soils. The organic fertilizers in addition to nutrients contain microbial load International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 12 (2017) pp. 3878-3882 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

Effect of Mulches on Growth and Yield of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is world’s second most cultivated grain legume grown over 10.2 million hectare. Chickpea is grown as a winter crop in the Indian subcontinent, which accounts for nearly 85% of the chickpea area sown worldwide. It is also an important crop in West Asia and Mediterranean region. Seed is the main edible part of the plant and is a rich source of protein, carbohydrates and minerals. In India chickpea is generally grown using stored soil moisture after rainy season. Moisture stress is the most prevalent environmental factor limiting plant growth, survival and productivity in chickpea (Bohnert and Jenson, 1995). Moisture deficit affects seed germination and seedling establishment in the field, however, mulching vary in their capacity to tolerate moisture stress. Chickpea is believed to be tolerant to drought condition, but there is little published evidence to support this contention (Saxena, 1984). Relative water content (RWC) is one of the important parameter to measure water status of the tissue (Barrs and Weatherley, 1962). Gradual decrease in RWC with increase in stress and greater reduction afterwards under severe stress has been reported in chickpea (Deshmukh et al., 2000). High RWC under moisture stress denotes ability of plants to tolerate moisture stress (Uprety and Sirohi, 1987). The beneficial effect of mulches on plants includes earlier production (Call and Courter, 1989; Decoteau et al., 1989) greater total yield (Jensen, 1990) and reduced insect and disease problems International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 3893-3897 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com