Effect of rice stubble management and planting density on establishment and productivity of forage oat under zero tillage conditions in rice fallows

Abstract

India is a country where rice is the primary crop grown during the kharif season and there are vast amounts of crop residues produced 371 Mt annually. there is scope for planting rabi pulses or rabi fodder under zero-tillage systems. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to study the effect of rice stubble management and planting density on establishment and productivity of forage oat under zero tillage conditions at the experimental farm, CAU, Imphal during the rabi season of 2020, 2021 and 2022. The experiment was designed with a split-plot design replicated thrice. The treatment consists of four types of stubble cuts at different heights (10 cm, 25 cm, 40 cm), and no cutting of rice stubble as main plots, and three levels of seed rate (80, 100, and 120 kg/ha) as subplots. The plot treated with rice stubble bent without cutting recorded the highest number of tillers/m2 (183). Among the main plots, maximum pooled green forage yield was obtained in the plot where bending of rice stubbles was performed (241.6 q/ha). Among the subplots, the seed rate of 120 kg/ha recorded the highest forage yield (184.96 g/ha). The dry matter yield was highest with bending of rice stubble without cutting (51.6 g/ha). The lowest was found in rice stubble cut at a height of 10 cm. The seed rate of 120 kg/ha recorded the maximum dry matter yield (39.42 g/ha). The highest pooled crude protein yield was found in the plot where rice straw was bent without cutting (4.25 q/ha).