Partial mechanization in BT cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) for soil sustainability under rainfed conditions

In India, nearly 25-30 million tonnes of cotton stalks are produced annually; the majority of which is burnt in-situ. The adoption of machinery in farm operations is lagging because of various factors like unavailability of credit to purchase expensive machinery, small size holdings of farmers, and lack of technical knowledge and skills to operate complex farm machinery. A field study was conducted during kharif 2020, 2021, and 2022 on a sandy loam soil at Regional Agricultural Research Station, Palem, Nagarkurnool district, Telangana State, India in a large plot size design without replications to assess the performance of cotton under partial mechanization with two treatments i.e., T1: Farmer’s practice (manual dibbling of seed/inter cultivation with cattle pair/burning of cotton residues) and T2: Partial mechanization (use of pneumatic vacuum planter/power weeder/cotton shredder). The results revealed that growth, yield attributes, and yield (6.94%) of cotton were significantly higher with partial mechanization compared to farmer’s practices. Soil physical and chemical characteristics were also significantly improved under partial mechanization when compared to farmer’s practices. Higher gross returns, net returns with an increase of Rs 12,536 per hectare, and the highest B:C ratio were also obtained with partial mechanization in cotton under rainfed conditions.