Effect of tillage and green manuring on soil moisture content cultivating maize (<i>Zea mays </i>L.)

Amid increasing climate variability and soil degradation, the need for soil and water conservation has become of utmost importance for India’s future, supporting sustainable agricultural production and the conservation of natural resources. Keeping this as a focal point, the present study conducted a two years’ field study on the effect of tillage and green manuring on soil moisture content cultivating maize (Zea mays L.) during the kharif (May-September) seasons of 2022 and 2023 in the experimental farm of the Department of Soil and Water Conservation, School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagaland University, Medziphema Campus. The field was laid out in a split-plot design with two factors: tillage and green manuring. The study revealed that in the main plot, the implementation of minimum tillage (TM) was found to be superior to conventional tillage (TC) in conserving soil moisture content by 0.73% at 30 DAS, 0.35% at 60 DAS, 1.37% at 90 DAS, and 0.92% at 120 DAS. In subplot G4, i.e., Green manuring with cowpea at 4 tonnes ha-1, the soil moisture content increased by 18.32%, 21.86%, 21.18%, and 25.07% at 30, 60, 90, and 120 DAS, respectively, compared to the control plots G0. In the interaction between tillage and green manuring, TMG4 i.e. minimum tillage + cowpea @ 4 tonnes ha-1 was found to be superior over all the other treatment combination resulting in an increase of 19.94%, 23.47%, 23.38% and 27.19% in 30, 60, 90 and 120 DAS respectively as compared to TCG0 i.e. conventional tillage + control, which exhibited the worst performing treatment combination to maintain and increase soil moisture content.