Effect of tillage option on wheat cultivation

A study was conducted to know the variation in the effects of various tillage methods on growth and growth components and the cost of production of wheat cultivation. The methods of tillage studied were zero tillage with residue management and without residue management, bed planting and compared with conventional practice. Number of tiller plant-1 was 4.4, 3.36, 2.44 and 1.3 and plant height was 44.15, 43.42, 39.8 and 36.3cm in zero tillage with mulching, zero tillage without mulching, bed and conventional method respectively. Intensity of weed growth is higher in bed than conventional method and lower in zero tillage with mulching. Panicle length was 7.3 in conventional method and nearly same and above 9.5 in the other methods. Economic yield was 3.312 t ha-1, 3.127 t ha-1, 3.097 t ha-1 and 2.59 t ha-1 and biological yield was 5.246 t ha-1, 4.940 t ha-1, 4.128 t ha-1 and 4.501 t ha-1 and harvest index was 0.631, 0.633, 0.750 and 0.575 in the method of zero tillage without mulching, zero tillage with mulching, bed and conventional respectively. Cultivation cost was 31751 Tk. ha-1, 28789 TK. ha-1, 29258 Tk. ha-1 and 32817 Tk. ha-1 and benefit cost ratio was 2.34, 2.76, 2.57 and 1.89 in the method of bed, zero tillage without mulching, zero tillage with mulching, and conventional respectively. The cost saved by the method of bed, zero tillage without mulching and zero tillage with mulching were 3.4%, 14% and 12.2% respectively compared with conventional method but the highest return obtained from zero tillage without mulching method. So the better wheat cultivation method is zero tillage method without residue management, followed by zero tillage with residue management method, bed planting method and the conventional method of cultivation.