Effect of Bed Planting and Zero Tillage on Productivity and Water Use of Irrigated Maize –Wheat Cropping System in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan

Crop establishment methods like broadcasting of wheat and manual planting of maize on flat surfacecoupled with flood irrigation are used in irrigated maize–wheat system of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincethat requires skilled labor, intensive tillage and more water for irrigation. In this study, zero tillage and bedplanting effect in comparison with farmer practice on maize-wheat system productivity was evaluated at fivesites in district of Nowshera, KP province during 2014-2016. Maize grain yield with bed planting and manualplanting on flat surface were non-significantly different. Because of weed infestation, there was 30 percent lowermaize grain yield with zero till planted maize in comparison with bed planting and farmer practice. Zero tilldrill planted wheat after maize crop had higher grain yield in comparison with mechanized bed planting andfarmer practice of broadcasting in 2014-15 and 2015-16 wheat season. Because of higher maize grain yield,maize–wheat system productivity was significantly higher with bed planting and farmer practice in comparisonwith Zero tillage. Bed planting of maize had 20 – 30 percent higher water use efficiency (WUE) in comparisonwith flat planting of farmer practice in both the years. Overall comparison of maize – wheat cropping systemshowed that there were 16 and 22 percent water saving with bed planting in comparison with other practice in2014-15 and 2015-16 cropping cycle, respectively. The study showed that farmer practice of manual plantingof maize and broadcasting of wheat can be replaced with bed planting of maize and zero till drill planting ofwheat, respectively to save water, labor and improve maize-wheat system productivity and water use efficiency.