EFFECT OF DIFFERENT TILLAGE PRACTICES AND IRRIGATION REGIMES ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF WHEAT CROP

Abstract

Wheat is an important cereal crop globally, providing dietary energy and protein. It is crucial to optimize agricultural practices to increase crop yield and sustainability. Traditional ploughing techniques may cause soil erosion, organic matter loss, and decreased soil fertility. Conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), and zero tillage (ZT), techniques have drawn interest as sustainable substitutes. Therefore, a field experiment was carried out to study the impact of three tillage practices CT (two passes of disk plow and rotavator followed by a leveler), MT (two passes of rotavator followed by a leveler), and ZT (no-tillage) practices combined with four irrigation regimes (0, 2, 4, and 6 irrigations) on crop development and yield of wheat crop during the rabi season 2021-2022 in Shaheed Benazirabad. The experiment was design as split-plot design; three tillage practices CT, MT, and ZT practices were kept as main plot and four irrigation regimes were arranged randomly in the sub-plots. Each treatment was a combination of tillage and irrigation treatment. Results illustrated that the CT compared with MT and ZT practices has substantially (P < 0.05) improved the crop growth (i.e., tillers and plant height), yield attributes (i.e., effective and non- effective tillers per square meter, filled and unfilled spikelet’s per panicle, spike length, grains per spike, and 1000 grains weight), grain yield, and biomass. Moreover, results presented that the tillage practices and irrigation had substantial effect on effective and non-effective tillers, filled and unfilled spikelet’s per panicle, spike length, grain numbers per spike, 1000 grains weight, biomass, grain yield, and crop water productivity. CT compared with MT and ZT practice has substantially (P < 0.05) higher grain yield (8.93% and 12.08%), biomass (11.10% and 27.58%), and crop water productivity (47.02%, and 90.77%) at all irrigation levels. In terms of irrigation regimes, six times irrigation, comparedwith 0, 2, and 4 irrigations significantly higher grain yield (205.51%, 84.43%, and 27.76%, respectively) and biomass (163.84%, 40.37, and 16.40%, respectively). Based on the results, the CT combined with 6 irrigations produced higher crop growth, yield attributes, grain yield, and biomass. These findings contributed to the understanding of the interactions between tillage practices and irrigation regimes on crop growth, yield, biomass, and WP of wheat crop. Moreover, provided valuable knowledge for farmers, agronomists, and policymakers in their decision-making processes.