Productivity of rainfed maize as influenced by hydrogel and mulching under conventional and zero tillage in maize-wheat cropping system

An agronomy field experiment was conducted at Ram Dhan Singh Seed Farm, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India, at 29 & DEG;47' N latitude and 75 & DEG;47 & PRIME; E longitude in a semi-arid climate having loamy sand soil during two successive years to compare the efficacy of different levels of hydrogel and mulch application along with conventional and zero tillage in maize cultivation under rainfed conditions. The maize hybrid cultivar HQPM 10 was tested under three levels of hydrogel (control, 2.5 and 5.0 kg/ha), two levels of crop cultivation (conventional and zero tillage) and two levels of moisture conservation (control and residue/mulch). Zero tillage, residue retention/mulching and hydrogel application increased soil moisture retention capacity, crop maturity, plant height, grain yield, stover yield and water productivity in rainfed maize. Zero tillage produced significantly higher grain yield (5466 and 5339 kg/ha) as compared to conventional tillage (4041 and 4103 kg/ha) There was significant increase in grain yield due to residue retention/mulching 4.0 t/ha (5058 and 5082 kg/ha) than no mulching (4449 and 4360 kg/ha). Among all hydrogel levels, application of hydrogel 5.0 kg/ha recorded the maximum grain yield in rainfed maize (4921 and 4951 kg/ha) being significantly higher than control (4544 and 4506 kg/ha).