MI Hossain
Principal Scientific Office
Regional Station, BWMRI, Rajshahi, Bangladesh
MI Hossain
BWMRI, Nashipur, Dinajpur, Bangladesh
MA Ohab
Director (Planning) & Director (Research)
BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
MHR Sheikh
Director (Planning) & Director (Research)
BARI, Gazipur, Bangladesh
BL Nag
Director (Planning) & Director (Research)
Regional Pulse Research Center, BARI, Madaripur 7900, Bangladesh
Conservation tillage, Residue retention, Crop productivity, Soil fertility, Cropping pattern
Regional Wheat Research Centre, Shyampur (RWRC), Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Farming System
Soil fertility, Wheat, Rice, Maize
A wheat-maize-rice cropping pattern was implemented whereas starting with wheat sown in November 25, 2014 and November 27, 2015 for wheat, maize crop sown on 3 April 2014 and transplanting rice on 27 July 2014 at the Regional Wheat Research Centre, Shyampur (RWRC), Rajshahi, Bangladesh (24o3'N, 88041E, 18 m above sea level). The site has a subtropical climate and is located in Agro ecological Zone 11 (High Ganges River Flood Plan) on flood-free high land, with course-textured, highly permeable soil (BARC, 2012). The area receives 1072 mm mean annual rainfall, about 95% of which occurs from May to September. The trial involved a three-crop sequence i,e., rice-wheat-maize (RWM) planted on permanent raised beds (PB), fresh bed (FB) and conventional flats. Rice was transplanted (one 25-days-old seedling per hill) with spacing 30 cm x 15 cm in late July and harvested in late November by hand. Wheat was seeded at late November with 100 and 120 kg seed ha-1 for both raised beds and conventional flat, respectively and harvested in late March. After harvest of wheat, maize was planted in early April with seeding rate of 20 kg ha-1 and harvested in mid-July for both raised beds and conventional. The trial was originally established as PB, FB and conventional practices with two straw management (main plots-30% straw retention (SR) and 0% SR). The experiments were conducted on split plot design with three replication. The area of each subplot was 15 m2 (5m x 3m). The experiment consisted of 6 subplots with three tillage/straw treatments (30% SR + PB, 30% SR + CTP, 30% SR + ST and 0% SR + CTP, 0% SR +PB and 0 % SR+ST) with three replication. After planting the wheat or rice, straw from the preceding cereal crops was returned as mulch into the plot from which it had been removed at harvest. After harvesting and threshing, the rice and wheat straw were retained without chopping as standing way. The width of the beds was 60 cm (furrow to furrow) and the depth of the furrows on average was 15 cm. Two rows of wheat (var. BARI Gom-30) or rice (var. BRRI dhan71) with a spacing of 30 cm, were planted by hand sowing on the beds, maize (var. NK-40) was sown by bed former in the furrows between the beds and indicator plant to assess microbial activity in the soil environment. The maize was harvested about 120 days after sowing (DAS). In CTP, wheat, rice and maize were planted in 20 cm, 30 x 15 cm (row x plant) and 60cm rows, respectively. A basal dose of P (20, 22 and 26 kg ha-1) from triple super phosphate, K (15, 33 and 35 kg ha-1) from muriate of potash and S (10, 11 and 20 kg ha-1) from gypsum was applied to rice, wheat and maize, respectively. In rice the entire amount of PKS was broadcast before transplanting and mulching on both PRB and CTP. For CTP the fertilizer was broadcast before tillage as is the usual practice. The recommended rate of N (80 kg ha-1 for rice, 100 kg ha-1for wheat and 210 kg ha-1 for maize) was applied as urea. With CTP, N was broadcast, while with beds it was banded on top of the soil between two rows in three equal installments 15, 30 and 45 days after transplanting of rice seedling, while wheat, two-thirds of the N was applied before seeding and the remaining one-third at crown root initiation (CRI). In maize, one-third N was applied as urea before seeding, one-third at eight leaves stage and remaining one-third at flowering stage. Other fertilizers were applied before seeding in all three crops as recommended said doses. Sufficient irrigation water was applied to fill the furrows between the raised beds. The flat plots were flood irrigated. Weed control was done after the first irrigation for wheat by Affinity application @ 2 g litre-1 of water, and at 25 and 45 days after transplanting for rice by Ronstar @ 1ml litre-1 of water. Grain and straw yield were determined on a 5 m2 areas in each plot. Statistical analysis of data- The data were analyzed statistically following computer package MSTATC and the significance of mean differences was adjusted by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at P ≤ 0.05 (Gomez and Gomez, 1984).
Bangladesh Agron. J. 2019, 22(2): 55-66
Journal