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The farmer's practice of buring the crop residues to clear the land before sowing is seen in various crop zones in Pakistan. In rice-wheat cropping system in Punjab, rice stubble is considered as a big problem for farmers. The crop stubbles damage the implements like cultivator rotavator that is why farmers prefers to burn these stubbles before preparation. The burning of rice stubble ease the field operations for wheat sowing but deteriorate the air and soil quality. To solve this problem of farmers, a research experiment was conducted during 2017-18 and 2018-19 at Agronomic Research Station Farooqabad to evaluate the effect of various sowing techniques on yields parameter and economics of wheat crop under rice wheat cropping system. The experiment was laid down with randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments included viz.T1: sowing with happy seeder (Zero tillage), T2: sowing of wheat without burning of rice stubble (Conventional Technique), T3: sowing of wheat by field preparation with Rotavator (two times), T4: sowing of wheat after burning stubbles of rice crop. The results of all treatments were significantly differed with each other. Maximum plant height (95 cm and 97 cm), numbers of productive tillers/m² (325 tillers/m² and 328 tillers/m2), thousand grain weight (39 g and 42 g), grain yield (3880 and 3700 kg/ha) and benefit-cost ratio (2.36 and 2.25) were recorded from the treatment where wheat crop was sown with happy seeder (zero tillage) during study years 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively than other techniques. It was concluded that farmers mayfetch higher yield and economics in wheat by sowing with happy seeder in rice wheat cropping system [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inequity of water allocation in the Indus Basin by the rotational method has created conflicts of interest leading to water scarcity for irrigated agricultural land. The arid region of the basin is affected the most, which demands a new inventive way of managing water resources. Geo-informatics maps of the Bahawalnagar canal circle were prepared which show groundwater quality and depth to water table (DWT) for 2006 and 2016, crop evapotranspiration (ETc) by using product MOD16A2 for Kharif (April to September) 2017 and Rabi (October to March) 2017–18 cropping season. Results showed that groundwater quality is deteriorating and DWT is rising over 72% of the study area which leads to waterlogging and salinization. Surface water deficit filled through groundwater contribution is 53.66% and 39%, while ETc varies from 0.0 to 931 and 0.0 to 1979 mm/season for the Rabi and Kharif cropping seasons respectively. This paper presents the status of water balance and groundwater characteristics of the arid region of the Indus basin and recommends re-evaluation of the current water allocation system both within and between canal command areas, recommending that water allocation should be allocated as per crop water requirement and groundwater quality. A re-allocation of water-based on groundwater characteristics will not only mitigate waterlogging and soil salinity, which is a threat to the sustainability of agricultural land but also reduces the stress of inequities within the current rotational system. Implementation of this water allocation strategy will require long-lasting monitoring of groundwater quality at a different depth, a variation of depth to the water table, and estimation of crop evapotranspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study was conducted at Surgarcane Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan during 2018-19 to evaluate twelve (12) exotic sugarcane clones imported from Philippines for biometric traits and diseases resistance in local climatic conditions. These clones were put in preliminary yield trials (4th stage) of varietal development program to evaluate their performance in comparison with local check varieties HSF 240 and CPF 249. The exotic genotypes along with local checks were subjected to randomized complete block design (RCBD) by keeping three replications during crop season 2018-19. Six biometric traits like germination%, tillers per plant, no. of canes, cane weight, cane yield and sugar contents along with resistance to two major diseases viz. red rot and smut of sugarcane were studied. Two-sided Dunnett’s multiple test was used for comprehensive comparison among bimetric traits. The results of this study indicated that all the clones differed significantly for their agronomic traits. Although some varieties of Philippines showed better performance for cane yield (PSR 01-46, 184.7 t/ha) as compared to check varieties but they could not surpass them for sugar contents (11.54%) and also found susceptible to red rot and smut diseases. Only three exotic clones viz. PSR 01-28, PSR 98-11 and PSR 99-182 were promoted to next selection stage of varietal development program on the basis of higher or comparable cane yield (120.7, 141.7 and 105.3 t/ha, respectively) than check varieties and diseases reaction. However, the sugar contents of these exotic clones were found at par with check varieties and thus further testing and evaluation is required to improve adaptability and stability for consistent performance under local agro-ecological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]