Effect of Seedbed Preparation Methods on Grain Yield, Yield Components and Some Growth Indices of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) as a Second Crop in Paddy Fields

The effects of tillage methods and residual management on yield and yield components of rapeseed (Brassica napus L. CV. Hyola308) were evaluated after rice harvest. The experiment was carried out during 2004-2005 cropping season in a factorical arrangement of treatments at Rice Research Institute of Iran (RRII) in Rasht, in a Complete Randomized Block Design with three replications. Treatments included tillage in three methods a) conventional tillage b) minimum tillage, and c) no tillage, and rice residue management in two manners: a) removing residues, and b) not removing residues. Plant traits such as grain yield, oil percentage and yield, plant density, plant height, the lowest pody branch height from soil surface, number of pods per plant, plant and weed dry weight, leaf area index (LAI) and crop growth rate (CGR) were measured. Results indicated that grain yield was affected by the tillage type. Also, the effect of tillage type on plant height, number of pods per plant, the lowest pody branch height from soil surface, and oil yield was significant. The effect of residual management and residual management interaction and tillage were significant on none of the traits except for weed dry weight. Economic analysis indicated that rapeseed planting in a field with rice residual and minimum tillage had a relative advantage of less production cost in spite of nearly 15 percent yield decrease compared to other methods.