47 Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 88 (1): 47–53, January 2018/Article https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v88i1.79569 Tillage and residue retention effect on crop and water productivity of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) under rainfed conditions PRAVEEN JAKHAR 1 , K S RANA 2 , ANCHAL DASS 3 , ANIL K CHOUDHARY 4 , PRAMOD KUMAR 5 , M C MEENA 6 and MUKESH CHOUDHARY 7 ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012 Received: 15 July 2016; Accepted: 25 August 2017 ABSTRACT A feld experiment was conducted during rabi season of 2014-15 and 2015-16 to study the effect of moisture conservation techniques and tillage management practices on growth, productivity and economics of Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czernj and Coss.]. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications in cropping system mode. The main plot treatments consisted of four moisture conservation practices adopted inkharif season cropviz. ridges and furrows (RF), RF + crop residue (CR) 4 tonnes/ha, RF + CR 2 tonnes/ha + vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza (VAM) and fat sowing (FS) and in sub plots;fve zero tillage management techniques, viz. zero tillage (ZT), ZT + seed priming, ZT + CR 4 tonnes/ha, ZT + CR 2 tonnes/ha + Hydrogel and conventional tillage (CT) were executed in mustard. Results revealed that moisture conservation technique,RF + CR 4 tonnes/ha in main plot and tillage management practice ZT + CR 4 tonnes/ha in sub plot recorded signifcantly superior growth parameters, physiological indices, yield attributes and yield values over rest of the treatments. Sowing in furrows under RF + CR 4 tonnes/ha recorded highest values for seeds/siliqua and siliqua length to the tune of 13.16 and 4.17 cm, seed yield (2.12 tonnes/ha) and stover yield (7.46 tonnes/ha), respectively. Furthermore under RF +CR 4 tonnes/ ha treatment registered signifcantly higherWUE (21.63 kg/ha/mm) as well as maximumN, P and K uptake values of 102.7, 21.02 and 97.15 kg/ha, respectively. Highest net returns of ` 54100/ha as well as B:C ratio (2.88) were obtained under RF + CR 4 tonnes/ha. In sub-plots, ZT + CR 4 tonnes/ha gave signifcantly higher values of siliquae/plant, seeds/siliqua and siliqua length to the tune of 342, 13.18 and 4.05 cm, respectively. ZT + CR 4 tonnes/ha recorded maximum seed yield (2.05 tonnes/ha) closely followed by ZT + CR 2 tonnes/ha + Hydrogel (1.94 tonnes/ha) and both the treatments were statistically at par. Water use effciency under ZT sowing with CR 4 tonnes/ha and ZT + CR 2 tonnes/ha + Hydrogel, gave statistically at par values of 20.93 and 19.72 kg/ha/mm, respectively. In spite of higher cost of cultivation, signifcantly maximum net returns (` 49500/ha) were obtained under ZT + CR 4 tonnes/ha. Thus on the basis research fndings, it can be established that under rainfed conditions after kharif crop harvest planting of Indian mustard can be done in left over furrows without any tillage with application of ex-situ CR 4 tonnes/ha or with CR 2 tonnes/ha + Hydrogel to save time, reduce cost and capitalize of residual moisture. Key words: Ex-situ residue, Hydrogel, Mustard, Ridge and furrow, Zero tillage 1 Scientist (icarpraveen@yahoo.co.in), ICAR-IISWC, Koraput, Odisha; 2 Principal Scientist(ksrana04@yahoo.com), 3 Senior Scientist (anchal_d@rediffmail.com); 4 Senior Scientist (anilhpau2010@gmail.com), Division of Agronomy, 5 Senior Scientist (pramodk63@yahoo.com), Division of Plant physiology 6 Senior Scientist (mcmeena@gmail.com), Division of SSAC, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, 7 Scientist (selmukesh@gmail.com), ICAR-IGFRI, Jhansi India has about 141.5 Mha net sown area, out of which 80 Mha (58%) is rainfed. It contributes 40% of India’s foodgrains production and support 66% livestock population (CRIDA 2015). Likewise, 40% of the population depends on rainfed agriculture and its performance is critical to enhance production, achieve and sustain high agricultural growth in years to come.Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czernj and Coss.] is an important crop of rainfed areas.It account for 23% of the total oilseeds area and 25% of the total oilseeds production in the country (DAC 2016). Mostly mustard is cultivated for edible oils but also possess varied uses as condiment, spices, leafy vegetable and fodder for livestock. However its productivity in India is far below than other countries. Of the several reasons, moisture stress is the most important one because it is generally grown under rainfed conditions. An important effect of water defcit is on nutrient absorption. Moisture stress interferences in nutrient uptake and uploading mechanism leading to reduction in transpirational fow (Garg 2003). Tillage operations strongly infuence the soil properties. It is important to apply appropriate tillage practices to avoid the degradation of soil structure, maintain crop yield as well as ecosystem stability. In recent years, interest of farmers in conservation tillage has increased because of escalation