Economic Assessment of Wheat Cultivars under Various NPK Concentrations in Zero Tillage and Conventional Tillage Systems
Rinku Kumar
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
Arun Kumar *
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
Rahul Verma
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
Arushi Chandel
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
Ram Sajiwan
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
Amit Kumar
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda, Uttar Pradesh -210001, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Wheat is a most consumed staple grain worldwide. In India, it is grown largely in irrigated conditions under rice-wheat cropping system where temporal arrangements of crops are utmost important. The demand for recommended doses of fertilizers also needs to be revisit for harnessing production potential of high yielding varieties. Keeping these facts in mind, a field experiment was conducted in the rabi season of 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 at the agriculture research farm of Banda University of Agriculture & Technology in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, India. The experiment was carried out in split-split plot design where zero tillage and conventional tillage were split into two main plots which were further split into three sub plots for accommodating three high yielding wheat cultivars i.e. HD 3226, HD 3249 and DBW 187 along with three levels i.e. 100% NPK, 125% NPK and 150% NPK of recommended doses in sub-sub plots. All 18 treatment combinations were replicated thrice. The results revealed the higher grain yield of 5.06 t/ha in 2023-24 and 4.91t/ha in 2024-25 was recorded in zero tillage while in case of wheat cultivars, significant higher economic yield of 5.13 t/ha in 2023-24 and 4.93 t/ha in 2024-25 was received from DBW 187 over others. Amid nutrient management practices, considerably higher grain yield 5.21 t/ha in 2023-24 and 5.01 t/ha in 2024-25 was recorded from plots supplied 150% recommended doses of NPK over others. During both cropping seasons, the less cost of cultivation (5.24% and 5.13%), higher gross return (₹137127.00/ha and ₹141294.00/ha), higher net return (₹93177.00/ha and ₹96402.00/ha) and higher B:C ratio (2.12 and 2.14) were recorded in zero tillage. Among wheat cultivars, significantly higher gross return (₹139306.00 and ₹142111.00 / ha), higher net return (₹94140.00 and ₹96003.00 /ha) and higher B: C ratios (2.08 and 2.08) were reported with DBW 187 during both years of study. In nutrient management practices, 150% NPK levels attained significantly higher gross return (₹141603.00/ha and ₹144444.00/ha), net return (₹94592.00/ha and ₹96303.00/ha) and B: C ratio (2.02 and 2.01) during both seasons.
Keywords: Zero tillage, conventional tillage, cost of cultivation, gross return, net return, B: C ratio