Influence of tillage and weed management practices on yield and economics of wheat in an aerobic rice-wheat system

A field experiment was conducted at Palampur during rabi 2023-24 to assess the effect of tillage and weed management practices on wheat yield and economics in an aerobic rice-wheat system under a strip plot design with fifteen treatment combinations. Tillage treatments comprised conventional tillage in rice and wheat (CT-CT), conventional tillage in rice and zero tillage with residue retention in wheat (CT-ZTR), zero tillage in both rice and wheat crops (ZT-ZT), zero tillage without residue in rice and with residue in wheat (ZT-ZTR), and zero tillage with residue in rice and wheat (ZTR-ZTR), while weed management included herbicide application in rice and wheat (H-H), herbicide application followed by hand weeding in rice and wheat crops (IWM-IWM), and hand weeding in both crops (HW-HW). Results showed that ZTR-ZTR significantly enhanced plant height, dry matter accumulation, yield attributes, and wheat grain equivalent yield compared to CT-CT. In terms of profitability, the ZT-ZTR system recorded the maximum net return (₹1,00,577 ha^-1) and benefit-cost ratio (2.18). Among weed management practices, herbicide application (H-H: clodinafop 60 g ha^-1 + metsulfuron-methyl 4 g ha^-1) outperformed integrated and manual weed control methods in improving growth, yield, and monetary returns. Overall, the combination of conservation tillage with herbicide application (ZTR+H-ZTR+H) emerged as the most efficient practice for improving both productivity and profitability in the aerobic rice-wheat system.