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Archives of Agriculture Research and Technology
[ ISSN : 2832-8639 ]


Higher Profitability of WheatMungbean-Rice System Through Conservation Agriculture Practice in Sub-Tropical Climate of Bangladesh

Research Article
Volume 3 - Issue 1 | Article DOI : 10.54026/AART/1033


M Mobarak Hossain1*, Mahfuza Begum1 and Richard W Bell2

1Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh
2Agricultural Sciences, Murdoch University, Australia

Corresponding Authors

M Mobarak Hossain, Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh

Keywords

Crop residues; Herbicides; Strip-pass tillage; Weed control; Yie

Received : June 29, 2021
Published : March 22, 2022

Abstract

Two-Wheel Tractor (2WT) operated plow tillage and crop residue exclusion practices in the rice-wheat system are costly, labor-intensive, soil destructive, and non-ecofriendly. In recent years, pursuits of healthy food production through sustaining the productive capacity of soils, and environmental quality, have raised concerns to adopt Conservation Agriculture (CA) worldwide. Single-Pass Tillage (SPT) combined with herbicides and crop residue retention principles of CA is being developed in Bangladesh. Between 2014 and 2016, we conducted a two-year on-farm experiment under the wheat-mungbean-rice system in Bangladesh. These crops were grown under two crop establishment methods; T1: Plow Tillage (PT) + three times manual weeding by hand, and T2: Pre-plant knockdown herbicide (PRE) + SPT + Pre-emergence herbicide (PE) + Post-emergence herbicide (PO). Treatments were combined with two levels of crop residues, R0: zero residues and R50: 50% anchored residue. The PT was accomplished with two primary tillage operations performed by a 2WT, whereas SPT was completed by a single-pass process using a Versatile Multi-crop Planter machine. The PRE: glyphosate, PE: pendimethalin for all crops, and PO: carfentrazone-ethyl+isoproturon, fenoxaprop-p-ethyl, and ethoxysulfuron-ethyl for wheat, mungbean, and rice, respectively, were applied at the prescribed dosage and time. Data reveal that, relative to traditional practice (PT+3HW without residue), the CA practice (PRE + SPT + PE + PO with 50% residue) resulted in 30, 39, and 15% higher yield and 37, 29, and 22% higher economic returns in wheat, mungbean, and rice, respectively. The productivity of the wheat-mungbean-rice system was 41% higher than that of the wheat-rice system.

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  1. Reference1
  2. Reference2