Economic Comparison of Conservation and Conventional Tillage Methods in Wheat-Cotton Rotation

This study was conducted at Darab Agricultural Research Station in wheat-cotton rotation for four years. A complete block experimental design with three treatments (no-till, reduced tillage, and conventional tillage methods) and four replications were used. Tillage methods were compared economically. The most beneficial treatment was selected based on estimating the costs and incomes of different treatments and using the net present value method of gross margin changes. Analytical hierarchy analysis (AHP) method was also used to select the most appropriate tillage method. Results showed that there was no significant difference between tillage methods for wheat and cotton yield during most of the years that this investigation was in processing. Reduced tillage and no-till methods decreased wheat and cotton production costs, compared to conventional tillage, for 5 and 10% respectively. These conservation tillage methods, compared to the conventional tillage, also reduced fuel consumption for 60 and 77%, respectively. Conservation tillage methods increased effective field capacity of seed bed preparation and planting operations, so that time required for seed bed preparation and planting operations decreased in reduced tillage and no-till, compared to the conventional tillage, for 62 and 74%, respectively. Conventional tillage had maximum present value of gross margin (53662 thousands Rials) compared to reduced tillage (46379 thousands Rials) and no-till (38149 thousands Rials). Considering different factors in decision making, parameters such as crop yield (0.312), production costs (0.221), and water consumption (0.219) had the highest weight in farmers’ decision for selecting tillage method, and the conservation tillage methods received the highest priority for selection.