Innovative Improved Skip Row Sowing Technique (IISRST) for Sole Soybean Crop Under Rainfed and Irrigated Situation, by Using Conventional Sowing Implements, for Sustainable Yield Advantage

Soybean crop is cultivated on vast area in Maharashtra, under rainfed as well as irrigated situation as a sole crop. Under rainfed situation short duration varieties of soybean like JS-95-60, JS-93-05 are grown followed by rainfed Gram crop. This practice is followed in heavy black cotton soils where Rabi Gram crop is taken on residual moisture as a dryland crop. Under irrigated situation Soybean is followed by Gram &Wheat crop. In Maharashtra State sole soybean crop is sown by conventional sowing implement i.e., bullock drawn sowing implement (with 3 or 4 tines) and tractor drawn sowing implement (with 5 or 6 or 7 or 9 tines). Because of huge plant population, once vegetative growth stage is over, competition between soybean plants takes place called as ‘within crop competition’. It leads to uneven growth of crop because of competition for soil moisture, soil nutrients, vertical space, sunlight etc. under normal rainfall situation. Under scanty rains or during long dry spell, growth of soybean crop gets adversely affected which leads to retarded growth. During heavy rains because of water stagnation, there is adverse effect on crop growth. Sole Soybean crop when sown by conventional sowing method with conventional sowing implements, get affected due to above problems under aberrant weather situation, which is a common reason for crop failure every year with improper quality of the produce. Slight change in sowing method i.e., sowing by Innovative Improved Skip Row Sowing Technique helps to overcome these problems, that too by using conventional bullock drawn and tractor drawn sowing implements, in which after every specific number of rows one row have to be skipped at the time of sowing. At the time of hoeing operation, a dead furrow has to be opened, by a rope to the tines of a hoe at every empty row which was kept vacant (i.e., unsown) at the time of sowing. Due to this there is a convenience in crop monitoring and during spraying, improved aeration, better distribution of sunlight, in-situ rain water conservation, provision of irrigation through furrow or by using sprinkler set, saving in seed rate and fertilizer and seed and fertilizer cost, ‘border effect’ can be achieved etc. In this way by minimizing problems of soybean crop, yield advantage to the extent of 15–40% can be achieved only through change in sowing technique, without any additional investment. Thus, by minimizing problems of sole soybean crop, sustainable yield advantage can be achieved to a greater extent without any high investment, by switching from conventional sowing method to Innovative Improved Skip Row Sowing Technique (IISRST), by giving Broad Base and Furrow (BBF) like appearance in the field.