Farmer’s Participatory Approach for the In-Situ Management of Paddy Straw with Happy Seeder and Rotavator

On Farm Trials were conducted in the district of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib to accelerate technology of happy seeder and rotavator for sowing of wheat in the combine harvested fields for in-situ management of paddy straw during 2008-09. Data recorded on paddy straw yield from the field of selected farmers to know the average straw yield during kharif of 2008. It was about 9.9, 9.7, 9.5 and 8.0 t/ha in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Kapurthala and Jalandhar, respectively. Farmers generally follow the practice of burning of paddy straw for sowing of wheat with conventional tillage and lost with this practice average of 33.48 kgha-1 available nitrogen, 7.44 kgha-1 available phosphorous and 66.03 kgha-1available potassium. Farmers can add large quantity of nutrients in the soil with the recycling of paddy straw by the adoption of happy seeder and rotavator technology for sowing wheat and it will help to conserve irrigation water, improve the soil productivity. The results of this investigation revealed that farmers can get the same or slightly higher grain yield with the adoption of happy seeder (zero tillage) and rotavator (reduced tillage) as compared to farmer’s practice, which are also efficient methods for in-situ management of paddy straw and control of weed population. Out of the three methods of planting, happy seeder is one of the most efficient methods to reduce the cost of production and to manage the combine harvested paddy straw and ultimately to improve the soil health and productivity of wheat. Rotavator sown crop had shallow root system due to compaction; more weed population as compared to happy seeder, but had less weed population than farmer’s practice. The farmers must adopt the zero tillage technology like happy seeder for sowing wheat in the combine harvested fields for in-situ management of paddy straw and also to increase the margin of profit.