Spatial and Temporal Variation of Soil Moisture Under Different Tillage Practices in Wheat Crop

Abstract

In order to investigate spatial and temporal variation of soil moisture under zero tillage (ZT) and raised bed (RB) method of wheat crop establishment with respect to conventional tillage (CT) method, a field experiment was conducted at Sabajpura farm of ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna on salty clay loam soil having sand, silt and clay of 20.8, 66.3 and 12.9%, respectively. Four depths of irrigation i.e. 3, 5, 7, and 9 cm with three replications were applied to each tillage method. The results revealed that the moisture content in the root zone for 3 cm depth of irrigation was low and there was not much variation in moisture content for 5, 7 and 9 cm depths of irrigation. In the top 0-15 cm depth of soil layer the moisture content in ZT (varying from 37.6 - 29.4%) and in the furrows of RB (varying from 37.8-30.3%) were highest followed by CT (varying from 36.5 - 25.2%) and it was found lowest on the beds of RB (varying from 30.2­ - 23.8%) for 5 cm depth of irrigation. In lower layers also similar trend was observed, but there was not much difference in the moisture contents among all the methods. The rate of decrease in moisture contents between first and second irrigations was lowest and between third and fourth irrigation it was found highest in all the tillage methods.