52 1 Ph D Scholar (email: todarmal.poonia6@gmail.com), 2 Senior Agronomist, 3 Agronomist, Department of Agronomy Rice (Oryza sativa L)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the major cropping system occupying 13.5 million hectares (m ha) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan (Gupta and Seth 2007). This in turn is fundamental to employment, income and livelihood for millions of people in the region. In India alone, RW rotation occupies about 10.5 m ha and contributes to 40% of the country’s total food grain production (Saharawat et al. 2011). Although rice-wheat is the most dominating crop sequence of Indo-Gangetic Plains, yet its continuous practicing has resulted in a number of ecological and management problems such as development of hardpan, low input use efficiency and nutrient deficiencies, besides insect- pests, disease and weed problems entailing use of pestisides. Continuous pumping of groundwater over the years to meet the high water requirement of flooded rice crop has resulted in a drastic decline in groundwater table. These detrimental factors have given impetus to pursuit for alternative crops and cropping systems, which are environment friendly and efficient in utilizing natural resources (Aulakh et al. 2012). Maize has emerged as an alternative option to replace the rice in cereal based cropping systems. In the previous decade (2003–04 to 2012–13), the maize area expanded by 1.8% and production increased by 4.9% showing productivity growth at 2.6% per annum in India. Maize, an important crop for food and nutritional security in India, is grown in diverse ecologies and seasons on an area of 8.71 mha with production of 22.26 mt (GoI 2015). It has higher yield potential than any other cereal crop and adaptability to wide range of environments; thus referred to as the ‘Miracle crop’ or the ‘Queen of cereals’. Among different cropping systems, maize-wheat is the 5 th dominant cropping system of India occupying an area of 1.8 mha (Jat et al. 2011). Inclusion of pulses, oilseeds and vegetables in the system is more beneficial and economical than sole cereals based cropping systems (Gangwar et al. 2004). To meet the growing demands improved agronomic practices such as intensive tillage, optimized use of fertilizers, improved crop protection and incorporating crop residue into the soil are being adopted (Ghasemi et al. 2010). Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 88 (2): 216–21, February 2018/Article https://doi.org/10.56093/ijas.v88i3.79171 Productivity and economics of different cropping systems in relation to tillage, mulching and fertilizer management practices in north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains of India TODAR MAL 1 , S S WALIA 2 and K S SAINI 3 Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141 004 Received: 09 March 2017; Accepted: 20 October 2017 ABSTRACT Diversification and intensification of existing rice-wheat cropping system in north-west Indo-Gangetic Plains with suitable resource conserving practices is the key answer for increasing profitability. Keeping this in view, a field experiment was conducted at Ludhiana during 2014-15 and 2015-16 to study the effect of tillage, mulching and fertilizer management practices on productivity and economics of different cropping systems. The results showed that minimum tillage produced significantly higher economic yield of maize (Zea mays L.) (42.98 and 44.86 q/ha), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (47.57 and 48.30 q/ha), potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) (252.42 and 254.93 /ha), vegetable pea (Pisum sativum L.) (132.42 and 137.08 q/ha) and spring maize (64.88 and 66.55 q/ha). Significantly higher maize equivalent yield (4.6 and 3.5%), higher net returns (` 153445 and 170803/ha) and B:C (1.33 and 1.43) was obtained under minimum tillage than conventional tillage. The productivity of maize-based cropping systems was significantly higher than conventional rice-wheat cropping systems. Maize-vegetable pea-spring maize produced 119 and 137% higher MGEY and higher net returns (` 218738 and 259235/ha), while maize-potato-spring maize showed 82 and 74% higher MGEY over rice-wheat cropping systems. Organic manures (FYM) in conjugation with inorganic fertilizers (75% RDF + 25% N through FYM) resulted in comparable MGEY with inorganic fertilizer (100% RDF). Application of mulch along with fertilizer treatments resulted in significantly higher MGEY as compared to fertilizer treatments without mulch. Gross returns were higher under mulch with fertilizer treatments, while the B:C ratio under mulch with fertilizer treatments was less as compared to fertilizer treatments without mulch. Key words: Cropping systems, Fertilizer, FYM, Maize, MGEY, Mulch, Tillage