Enhancing hybrid maize (Zea mays) productivity, profitability and energetics through tillage and weed-management practices in Eastern India

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) season of 2017 and 2018 at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station, Bhawanipatna of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Odisha, to study the effect of tillage and weed-management practices (WMPs) on weed-control efficiency (WCE), yield attributes, yield, economics and energetics of hybrid maize (Zea mays L.). The results revealed the minimum weed dry-matter production (4.9 g/m² ) in conventional tillage (CT) followed by 5.5 g/m² dry-matter in minimum tillage (MT) and 5.9 g/m² in zero tillage (ZT) at 60 days after sowing (DAS). Among the WMPs, hand-weeding (HW) at 20 and 40 DAS and application of atrazine 1.0 kg a.i./ha followed by HW at 40 DAS resulted in significantly less weed dry weight with higher weed-control efficiency (WCE) at all the stages of growth. The CT recorded higher seed yield (4.78 t/ha), followed by MT and ZT. However, HW at 20 and 40 DAS resulted higher seed yield (5.76 t/ha) which was at par with application of atrazine 1.0 kg a.i./ha followed by (fb) HW at 40 DAS (5.07 t/ha). The seed yield in HW and atrazine-applied plots was 146 and 117% higher than the weedy check. Higher energy-use efficiency (EUE) and energy productivity with less specific energy and energy intensiveness were recorded in MT (7.40, 0.50 kg/MJ, 2.24 MJ/kg and 0.300 MJ/`) indicating, efficient energy utilization by MT than ZT and CT. Among WMPs, application of atrazine 1.0 kg a.i./ha fb HW at 40 DAS recorded EUE of 9.56, energy productivity of 0.65 kg/MJ, specific energy of 1.56 MJ/kg and energy intensiveness of 0.294 MJ/`.