Effect of natural, organic and inorganic farming methods on soil moisture dynamics and weed dynamics in maize

An investigation was carried out during the kharif, 2016 at Agricultural College, Jagtial to study the effect of natural farming on soil moisture dynamics and weed dynamics of maize in comparison with inorganic and organic farming. The available soil moisture determined at fortnightly interval did not differ due to farming methods either in DHM 117 and Aswini. Weed growth in terms of density and dry matter was found to vary in different farming methods but remained same between DHM 117 or Aswini. Initially (30 DAS) lower weed density and dry matter were observed with natural farming (4.49 No. m-2 and 1.87 g m-2, respectively) due to straw mulching compared to other methods but later (60 DAS) new flush of weeds emerged which could be controlled by hand weeding in organic and inorganic methods.