Abstract

Aim: The study was conducted to evaluate the performance of unpadded rice cultivation with crop residue retention.

Materials and Methods: The rice var. BRRI dhan28 was transplanted by two tillage practices viz., puddled conventional tillage (CT) and non-puddled strip tillage (ST) and two levels of crop residues- no residue (R₀) and 50% residue (R₅₀). The experiment was devised in a randomized complete block design with four replications.

Results: There were no significant yield differences between two tillage practices and two levels of residue in 2013-14. But in the following year, ST yielded higher grains (5.72 t ha^-1), which was about 9.36 % higher than CT, leading to 22.23% higher BCR. On the other hand, retention of 50% residue increased yield by 3.15% compared to no-residue, contributing to 10.58% higher BCR. The ST combine with 50% residue retention yielded the highest grain yield (5.81 t ha^-1), consequently credited to obtain the highest BCR (1.06).

Conclusion: It was concluded that un-puddled rice transplanting with the retention of crop residues may be an excellent alternative to existing conventional tillage operation and farmers are likely to benefit by adopting this practice.

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