[Patel*, 5(5): May, 2016] ISSN: 2277-9655 Impact Factor: 3.785 http: // www.ijesrt.com © International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology [335] IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY STUDY OF ENERGY REQUIREMENT FOR MAIZE CULTIVATION IN PANCHMAHAL DISTRICT OF MIDDLE GUJARAT Parth G. Patel*, Akhil C. Bhut, Pankaj Gupta * Ex M. Tech. Student and 3- Associate Professor, CAET,AAU, Godhra Ex M. Tech. Student, CTAE, MPUAT, Udaipur DOI: ABSTRACT Energy analysis of crop production is essential to find out the current energy requirement as well as the future demand of energy in crop cultivation. A survey was conducted through structured questionnaire to 93 randomly selected farmers in four villages (Jakhripura, Kandach, Kankanpur and Ganagata) of talukas Godhra, Khanpur and Kalol. The raw data obtained were analyzed after converting data into energy equivalents. It was concluded that fertilizer application consumed maximum operation wise energy with a value of 7010.55 MJ/ha followed by seed bed preparation with the value of 3684.72 MJ/ha. According to source wise, chemical fertilizer consumed maximum energy, about 36.09 % of total energy consumption and then after fuel energy 22.62 % of total energy consumption. The total input energy requirement for maize production in Panchmahals district 18831.07 MJ/ha. Total output energy for maize cultivation was 83894.62 MJ/ha. Energy productivity of maize in the study area was found to be 0.25 kg/MJ. The net energy return from the cultivation of maize in Panchmahal district is 65063.55 MJ/ha KEYWORDS:. INTRODUCTION Energy is one of the most valuable inputs in crop production. Energy needed for agricultural production is about 3% of the national energy consumption in developed countries and about 5 to 6% in developing countries (Stout, 1989). Sufficient availability of the exact energy and its effective and efficient use are prerequisites for improved agricultural production and profitability. All the farming operations in crop production require energy inputs in various forms and in varying magnitude. Efficient use of energies helps to achieve increased production and productivity and contributes to the economy, profitability and competitiveness of agriculture sustainability (Ozkan et al., 2004; Singh et al., 2002). Although energy consumption is increasing with time, the energy use efficiency is declining constantly (Khan & Khan, 2007). Energy analysis, therefore, is necessary for efficient management of scarce resources for improved agricultural production. It would identify production practices that are economical and effective. Thus, it is our need to carry out energy analysis of crop production system and to establish optimum energy input at different levels of productivity prevailing in the area. In this regard, a research was aimed to assess the energy analysis of major crop of the area i.e. maize with the following objectives: 1. To collect farm operations data of maize cultivation in district Panchmahal. 2. To analyze energy involved in maize production. MATERIALS & METHODS The study was conducted to investigate the energy and economic analysis of maize crop grown in the Panchmahal district. The information was collected from farmers of four villages (Jakharipura, Kandach, Kankanpur and Ganagata) located in three talukas of the Panchmahal district. To conduct the research, district Panchmahal was selected as study area which is one of the highest producer districts of maize in Gujarat. The district is located in semi arid region with latitude of N 22°30’ to 23°23’ and longitude of E 73°15’ to 74°75 and at 119 m above MSL.