Conservation agriculture in its version of permanent raised bed planting with crop residue retention has been proposed as an alternative wheat production system of western Uttar Pradesh.Therefore the present work was undertaken during 2008-2011 to compare permanent and tilled raised beds with different residue management under irrigated conditions. Permanent beds with residue retention resulted in increased crop yield of 11-17% in maize and 12-15% in wheat over conventional practices. In permanent raised beds with retained plot over without residue plot the savings in water use were 11.2 % to 21.5 % in maize and 12.3% to 19.7 % in wheat as compared to conventional practices of seeding. Permanent raised beds with full residue retention increased soil organic matter content 1.6 times in the 0–5 cm layer and had significantly higher mean weight diameter and aggregate stability compared to conventionally tilled flat beds.