On-farm field experiments were undertaken in Chakdah Block, West Bengal, India, to study the impact of surface sowing, sowing by zero till seed drill (ZT) and conventional sowing with normal tillage (CT) in lowland rice fields on the growth and yield performances of wheat cv. 'UP 262', sown in the 1st, 3rd and 4th weeks of November during 2005-06 and 2006-07. For sowing under zero till, the seed rate was high (150 kg/ha). The depth of irrigation for ZT was 4 cm (3 h/bigha) compared to CT of 6 cm (4.5 h/bigha). Three irrigations were applied at crown root initiation, maximum tillering and flowering stages. The wheat plant height, tillering, panicle length, grains per spike and test weight were significantly affected by ZT and surface sowing compared to CT. Effective tiller production was higher under ZT with 3 irrigations than ZT with 2 irrigations or surface sowing. ZT with 3 irrigations (226 mm total water use) recorded the highest grain yield of 24.6 q/ha, which was a 21.8% yield increase over CT with 3 irrigations (243 mm total water use). ZT with 2 irrigations (189 mm total water use) decreased the grain yield by 111.8% over ZT with 3 irrigations. The water use efficiency was higher (8.5-8.71 kg ha -1 mma -1) under ZT with 3 irrigations over ZT with 2 irrigations or CT with 3 irrigations.
