Effect of Deep Tillage on Soil Physical Properties in Rice Wheat Cropping System

Rice-wheat cultivation is a prevalent agricultural practice in many regions of the world, feeding millions of peoples. Excessive tillage in conventional agriculture systems may cause plough pan, which alters soil physical properties, and thus adversely affects the crop growth and productivity. The effect of tillage practices and soil depth on soil physical properties in rice wheat cropping system was studied during Rabi season of 2022-23. The purpose of this research is to look at the impact of deep tillage on soil physical qualities in the context of a rice-wheat cropping system. The deep tillage practices significantly reduce soil resistance (kPa) in 15-60 cm soil depth. The conventional, rotary and conservation tillage practices do not have any impact on soil resistance (kPa) at any soil depth. The deep tillage practices significantly decreases bulk density (g cm^-3) at all soil depth, however no effect of other tillage practices was observed on bulk density at any depth. The deep tillage resulted in significantly improvement in soil moisture content (%) in deeper soil layer (45-90 cm) as compared to other tillage practices. The deep tillage resulted in significantly improvement in water infiltration rate (cm min^-1), mainly in 15-30 cm soil depth as compared to other tillage practices.