EFFECT OF CROPPING SYSTEM AND RESIDUE MANAGEMENT ON MAIZE

Concern for the sustainability of yield and soil fertility has led to a renewed interest in crop rotation and incorporation of crop residues. The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of cropping system and residues management on the yield and yield components of maize. The experiment was conducted at KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar during summer 2002 and was laid out in RCB design with split plot arrangement having four replications. Higher ear length and weight, grains ear(-1), grain weight and grain and biological yields were recorded for legume-cereal (chickpea-maize) cropping system followed by cereal-cereal (wheat-maize) cropping system with nitrogen application at the rate of 160 kg N ha(-1) to the previous as well as current crops in both cases. However, these parameters were minimal for cereal-cereal (wheat-maize) cropping system with no nitrogen application either in the previous crop or in the current crop. Higher ear length and weight, grain ear(-1), grain weight, grain and biological yields were recorded for the plots applied with FYM followed by the plots in which residues were incorporated. The plots in which no residues were incorporated performed poorly and resulted in least values of these parameters. It is concluded that application of farmyard manure at the rate of 10 tons ha(-1) in legume cereal cropping system resulted in higher yield and yield component of maize.