Crop growth performance in a rice-maize cropping system under conservation agriculture and nutrient management

Reduction in crop growth potential is major hurdle in reaching the desired crop productivity under rice-maize (RM) cropping system. To address the issue, the experiment was conducted at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Rice Research Institute (ICAR-CRRI), Cuttack during 2022-23 and 2023-24 with four production systems: Conventional + Sole Crop (CSC), Conventional + Inter Crop (CIC), Conservation Agriculture + Sole Crop (CASC) and Conservation Agriculture + Inter Crop (CAIC) under three nutrient management strategy: Recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) (NR), 25 % N (N25) and 50 % N (N50) based substitution of RDF with FYM (farm yard manure) using split plot design. The results reflect that the overall crop growth was significantly affected by both production systems and nutrient management practices. The plant height, leaf area index (LAI) and dry matter accumulation (DMA) were found higher under conventional system. The N25 and N50 performed better than NR though not to a significant extent. The experiment concludes that substituting inorganic fertilizers with organic sources and conservation agriculture practices can enhance the crop growth under RM cropping system.