Effect of Residue Management and Irrigation Scheduling on Grain Yield and Water Productivity of Wheat in North-West India

Background: The continuous farming of cereal-cereal (rice-wheat) cropping sequence and crop residue burning has resulted in soil health degradation, environmental pollution, stagnation of yield and shrinking groundwater resources. The management of rice crop residues (RCRs) could be helpful in the enhancement of soil properties and agriculture output. The two-year experiments were conducted to assess the effects of keeping residue and irrigation scheduling strategies on soil properties, crop yield and water productivity. Methods: The study used three wheat establishment techniques: conventional tillage (CTW), Happy Seeder (HSW) and Super Seeder (SSW) in main plot fields. In sub-plot fields, four irrigation scheduling strategies were set up, i.e. irrigation at crop growth stages (IS1), climatological approach, IW/(CPE-rain) ratio of 0.9 with first irrigation at the CRI stage (IS2), IW/(CPE-rain) ratio 0.9 for the entire crop season (IS3) and 50% available soil moisture depletion (DASM) in the crop root zone (IS4). Result: The pooled results indicated that HSW sowing method coupled with IS3 irrigation scheduling have a significant impact on attributes of yield and crop yield. It has also been observed the highest irrigation water productivity (WPI) was 54.36 kg ha-1 mm-1 in the HSW sowing method and IS3 irrigation scheduling practice. The higher returns over variable cultivation cost and benefit-cost ratio (BCR), i.e. 99261.40 Rs ha-1 and 1.43, respectively, were observed in HSW sowing methods of wheat. The study suggests keeping the RCRs using appropriate machinery and following optimum irrigation scheduling practices to curb residue burning and conserve natural resources for sustainable and profitable farming.