Effect of Zero Tillage Practices on the Economic Performance of Potato

Abstract

Potato is an important winter rotation and vegetable crop which provides a stable income for small holders in order to increase the knowledge and profits of farmers through the adoption of zero-tillage potato with rice straw mulch will promote climate-smart agriculture in addition to reduce environmental pollution caused by straw burning. More importantly, the use of rice straw for mulching puts nutrients back in the soil and reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the conventional practice of straw burning. Mulch provides an important habitat for natural enemies, which are vital for pest population regulation. An experiment was conducted during the rabi seasons of 2021-22 and 2022-23 at the Research Farm, ICAR-Central Potato Research Station RS, Gwalior (M.P.). The experiment consisted of 7 treatments viz.; Farmer’s practice (T1), CIP Technique (T2), Regional AICRIP/INSTITUTE recommendation/hoeing (T3), Flat-bed planting (T4), Flat-bed planting & mulching (T5), Flat-bed planting & ridging (T6) and Flat-bed planting, ridging and mulching (T7) with 3 replications. The soil of experimental field was a sandy clay loam with uniform topography. The result showed that CIP Technique (T2) followed by Flat-bed planting, ridging and mulching (T7) were registered superior values of growth parameters (number of stems per plant and root length), yield attributes (number of tubers grade-wise and grade-wise tuber yield) as well as economics (gross monetary return) of potato in both years as well as pooled over rest of the treatments. In case of B:C ratio; Flat-bed planting, ridging and mulching (T7) followed by CIP Technique (T2) observed significantly economical (1.65 and 1.50; respectively) over rest of the treatments in pooled analysis.