Search

Conventional tillage and crop establishment methods for the rice–wheat (RW) system are input intensive (water, labour and energy). About 24.5 million tonnes of rice residues are burnt every year on farms in north-western India before sowing of wheat, causing air pollution and soil health degradation. Therefore, alternative tillage, crop establishment and residue management practices are needed for long-term sustainability of the RW system. A 4-year field study evaluated four tillage and crop establishment methods in rice (in main plots) and three tillage and rice residue management methods in wheat (in subplots) for their effects on yield, soil fertility, and profitability of the RW system. Average rice yields were similar under conventional puddled transplanted rice (PTR) and conventional till dry seeder rice (CTDSR). Both of these treatments produced significantly greater yields (10–16%) compared with zero till DSR (ZTDSR) and ZT machine transplanted rice in non-puddled soil, respectively, regardless of tillage and straw management methods in the previous wheat crop. Wheat yields in ZT wheat (ZTW) with 100% surface retention of rice residue (+R) were significantly greater than conventional till without residue retention after 2 years of experimentation, and accompanied by significant increases in macro-nutrient (potassium) availability in soil. The ZTW−R (no residue) treatment produced 15% lower wheat yield than ZTW+R. System yield was highest in CTDSR-ZTW+R, which was 5% higher than the conventional practice PTR-CTW−R, resulting in Rs 17 000 ha−1 greater net returns. The sustainability of conventional rice–wheat production systems in northwestern India has become a major concern for addressing the issues of energy, labour, water scarcity and quality. Resource conservation technologies such as zero tillage with residue retention showed higher productivity, profitability and potential in improving the soil health. The adoption of sowing of wheat into rice residues can achieve high crop productivity and income, while avoiding ill effects of straw burning on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reduce the human effort involved in walk‐behind paddy transplanter operation, a remote‐control system consisting of an electronic control unit (ECU) was designed and developed. A separate remote handheld wireless kit was developed to control the ECU. The deviation from a straight‐line path was measured by mounting a real‐time kinematic global satellite navigation system on the transplanter to provide a real‐time plot of the navigation path of the transplanter. The results from the field evaluation revealed that the system worked properly with an effective field capacity of 0.16 ± 0.03 ha h−1 with a field efficiency of 73.05% ± 0.35% at 1.8 km h−1 in sandy loam soil. The mean deviation from the predefined straight path was 0.227 ± 0.041 m for the remote‐controlled transplanter as compared to 0.171 ± 0.041 m for a manually operated transplanter. The net benefit of using the transplanter with the developed system was $40 per hectare and $2084 per year with a payback period of 2.7 years. The developed remote‐control system reduced the drudgery/fatigue by up to 90% and increased the operator's work efficiency. In addition, an operator sitting in a safe and comfortable environment outside the puddled field improved the field capacity of paddy transplanters by up to 10% and helped minimize the effects of labor shortage during the transplanting season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]