Field experiments were conducted to evaluate eight different integrated crop management (ICM) modules for 5 years in a maize-wheat rotation (M
); wherein, ICM
-'business-as-usual' (conventional ...flatbed maize and wheat, ICM
-conventional raised bed (CT
) maize and wheat without residues, ICM
-conservation agriculture (CA)-based zero-till (ZT) flatbed maize and wheat with the residues, and ICM
CA-based ZT raised bed maize and wheat with the residues. Results indicated that the ICM
produced significantly (p < 0.05) the highest maize grain yield (5 years av.) which was 7.8-21.3% greater than the ICM
. However, across years, the ICM
gave a statistically similar wheat grain yield and was 8.4-11.5% greater than the ICM
. Similarly, the CA-based residue retained ICM
modules had given 9.5-14.3% (5 years av.) greater system yields in terms of maize grain equivalents (M
) over the residue removed CT-based ICM
. System water productivity (S
) was the highest with ICM
, being 10.3-17.8% higher than the ICM
. Nevertheless, the highest water use (T
) was recorded in the CT flatbed (ICM
), ~ 7% more than the raised bed and ZT planted crops with or without the residues (ICM
). Furthermore, the ICM
had produced 9.54% greater variable production costs compared to the ICM
, whereas, the ICM
gave 24.3-27.4% additional returns than the ICM
. Also, different ICM modules caused significant (p < 0.05) impacts on the soil properties, such as organic carbon (S
), microbial biomass carbon (S
), dehydrogenase (S
), alkaline phosphatase (S
), and urease (U
) activities. In 0.0-0.15 m soil profile, residue retained CA-based (ICM
) modules registered a 7.1-14.3% greater S
and 10.2-17.3% S
than the ICM
. The sustainable yield index (S
) of M
was 13.4-18.6% greater under the ICM
compared to the ICM
Hence, this study concludes that the adoption of the CA-based residue retained ICMs in the M
could sustain the crop yields, enhance farm profits, save water and improve soil properties of the north-western plans of India.
Conservation agriculture (CA)-based practices have been promoted and recouped, as they hold the potential to enhance farm profits besides a consistent improvement in soil properties. A 7 years' field ...experiment consisting of three crop establishment practices viz., zero-till flatbed (ZTFB), permanent beds (PNB), conventional system (CT) along with the three-nutrient management; nutrient expert-based application (NE), recommended fertilization (RDF), and farmers' fertilizer practice (FFP), was carried out from 2013 to 2020. The CA-based practices (ZTFB/PNB) produced 13.9-17.6% greater maize grain-equivalent yield (MGEY) compared to the CT, while NE and RDF had 10.7-20% greater MGEY than the FFP. PNB and ZTFB gave 28.8% and 24% additional net returns than CT, while NE and RDF had 22.8% and 17.4% greater returns, respectively over FFP. PNB and ZTFB had 2.3-4.1% (0.0-0.20 m soil layers) lower bulk density than the CT. Furthermore, microbial biomass carbon (MBC) increased by 8-19% (0.0-0.50 m soil layers) in ZTFB/PNB over the CT, and by 7.6-11.0% in NE/RDF over FFP. Hence, CA-based crop establishment coupled with the NE or RDF could enhance the yields, farm profits, soil properties of the maize-chickpea rotation, thereby, could sustain production in the long run.
Delayed sowing of maize hybrids could exacerbate the capability of maximizing the yield potential through poor crop stand, root proliferation, nutrient uptake, and dry matter accumulation coupled ...with the inadequate partitioning of the assimilates. This study appraised the performance of five recent maize hybrids viz., PMH-1, PJHM-1, AH-4158, AH-4271, and AH-8181 under timely and late sown conditions of the irrigated semi-arid ecologies. Timely sowing had the grain and stover yields advantage of 16-19% and 12-25%, respectively over the late sown maize hybrids. The advanced hybrids AH-4271 and AH-4158 had higher grain yields than the others. During the post-anthesis period, a greater dry matter accumulation and contribution to the grain yield to the tune of 16% and 10.2%, respectively, was observed under timely sown conditions. Furthermore, the nutrient acquisition and use efficiencies also improved under the timely sown. The nutrient and dry matter remobilization varied among the hybrids with AH-4271 and PMH-1 registering greater values. The grain yield stability index (0.85) was highest with AH-4158 apart from the least yield reduction (15.2%) and stress susceptibility index (0.81), while the maximum geometric mean productivity was recorded with the AH-4271 (5.46 Mg ha
). The hybrids AH-4271 and PJHM-1 exhibited improved root morphological traits, such as root length, biomass, root length density, root volume at the V5 stage (20 days after sowing, DAS) and 50% flowering (53 DAS). It is thus evident that the timely sowing and appropriate hybrids based on stress tolerance indices resulted in greater yields and better utilization of resources.
The continuing decline in water resources under the ever-changing climate compels us to re-orient our focus to a more sustainable practice. This study investigates the performance of
wheat genotypes ...viz. HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under well- and deficit-watered conditions for their root-traits, biomass and nitrogen accumulation and remobilization, and water use efficiencies, grown in PVC-tubes. The genotypes HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under well-watered (WW) resulted in 36, 35, 38, 33, and 42% more grain yield compared to deficit-watered (DW). Among the genotypes, HD-3249 had the highest grain yield under both well- and deficit-watered conditions. Compared to DW, the WW had 28%, 30%, and 28% greater root length, biomass, and root length density at flowering {102 days (d), Z
}, while among the genotypes, HD-3249 had relatively greater root-traits. At flowering (Z
) and maturity (132 d, Z
), genotypes under WW accumulated 30-46% and 30-53%, respectively greater shoot biomass over the DW. Furthermore, the shoot biomass remobilised for HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226 under the WW was 32, 37, 39, 35, and 35% greater than the DW. The nitrogen partitioning to different plant parts at flowering (Z
) and maturity (Z
) was significantly greater with the WW than with DW. The total nitrogen- remobilized and contribution to grain-N under the WW was 55, 58, 52, 53, 58% and 9, 19, 15, 17, 17% greater than the DW for the genotypes HD-2967, HD-3086, HD-3249, DBW-187, and HD-3226. The irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) at flowering (Z
) was more under the deficit-watered, but the biomass and grain total WUE was improved with the well-watered condition. Hence, it is apparent that proper scheduling of irrigation and N applications, along with the adoption of a genotype suited to a particular environment, will result in better WUE and grain yields, along with better utilization of scarce resources.
Shifting from chemical-intensive practices to organic-based farming within the rice-wheat rotation (RWR) is crucial for its long-term sustainability. This highly productive system holds a significant ...carbon (C) sequestration potential if managed efficiently. The dynamics of soil organic-C profoundly impacts the global climate change and crops’ productivity, necessitating the continuous monitoring of organic carbon to ensure soil vitality. Hence, we have evaluated the long-term (twenty-one years) impact of organic amendments on yields of the RWR, soil properties and C-dynamics. After 21 years, we observed that organic-based amendments increased the rice and wheat grain yields by 33.4–52.5% and 20–42.8%, respectively, over the control (no organics). On an average, in top 0.0–0.15 m soil layer, the organic-manured plots had 21.6%, 21.3% and 23.4% greater available nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) over the control plot, respectively. Furthermore, such organic-manured plots recorded 32.9–50.8% and 6.04–32.3% greater microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) over the control. Also, the use of organic amendments had a significant (p≤0.05) and positive impact on the soil carbon dynamics (0.0–0.45 m). In 0.0–0.45 m soil depth, the organic-manured treatments registered a 25.9–44.2% greater total organic carbon (TOC) than the control. These treatments improved the active (labile, very labile) and recalcitrant (less labile, non-labile)-C pools especially in upper soil layers. In summary, the synergistic use of Sesbania green manure, Leucaena leucocephala leaf manuring, farmyard manure, and biofertilizers (blue-green algae/Azotobacter etc.) proves effective in restoring soil health and enhancing crop productivity by increasing soil organic carbon and ensuring nutrients availability. Thus, these organic amendment treatments can be advocated to farmers to sustain the productivity of the rice-wheat ecosystems.
•Organic amendments had significant positive impact on rice (33.4–52.5 %) and wheat (20–42.8 %) yields over the control.•Organic-manured improved the active (labile, very labile) and recalcitrant (less labile, non-labile)-C pools.•Also, the use of organic amendments significantly improved soil microbial properties besides available nutrients.•Organic amendments enhanced the stability for C-sequestration and accessibility of vital plant nutrients
The triple challenge of acute water crisis, stagnant crop yield and soil health deterioration in NW Indo Gangetic Plains (IGP) ramble a search for potential alternative crop establishment technique ...(CET). Hence, maize-based crop rotations under best-bet conservation agriculture (CA) practices can plays a critical role in sustainable crop production. The CA-based tillage and CET viz. zero tillage (ZT) and permanent raised beds (PB) hold potential to intensify crop yield per hectare, improving resource use efficiency besides bringing desirable changes in soil physico-chemical and biological properties. Therefore, it needs to be popularized in larger scale chiefly under maize-based rotation to makes farming more attractive, profitable and sustainable.
Different integrated crop management (ICM) modules have been developed to enhance the productivity and profitability of the rice-wheat rotation (RWR) of the upper Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs). As the ...available options are used quite often singly or with the few combinations, hence in the present study, eight ICM modules have been evaluated; wherein, ICM1&2- conventional transplanted rice fb flatbed wheat, ICM3&4- conventional direct seeded rice (DSR) fb furrow irrigated raised bed wheat without residues, ICM5&6- conservation agriculture (CA)-based modules zero tilled (ZT) DSR and ZT wheat with the wheat and rice residues, and ICM7&8- CA-based modules (ZTDSR and ZT wheat) with the wheat, mungbean and rice residues. Results revealed that ICM8 produced the highest mean rice grain yield, which was statistically similar to ICM1&7, however it was 10.1–20.7% greater than the ICM2–6 modules. Similarly, the ICM7 recorded 14–16% greater wheat grain yield than the ICM1–6 (five years' mean), but it was at par to the ICM8. Furthermore, the ICM7&8 produced 10–13% (5 years av.) higher system yields in terms of rice equivalents over the ICM1&2. Water use (WU) was the highest in ICM1&2 and was 8–12% higher than the ICM3–8. In contrast, the highest water productivity (WP) was recorded with the ICM7&8, wherein it was14–16% greater than the ICM1&2. The ICM1&2 had incurred the highest variable production costs (US$ 912–1105 ha−1 yr−1), followed by ICM7&8 (US$ 856–1021 ha−1 yr−1). Nevertheless, on an average, the ICM7&8 gave 19–22% additional returns than the ICM1&2. Also, the ICM modules had a significant (p < 0.05) and positive impact on the soil carbon (0.0–0.45 m). The CA-based (ICM5–8) residue retained modules registered a 10–25% greater total OC stock than the ICM1–4 in 0.0–0.45 m soil layer. The current study thus up-holds the importance of adequate inputs integration, and hence, adoption of the CA-based ICM in the RWR improved the soil carbon dynamics, crop yields, farm profits, besides water savings of the upper Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGPs) of north-west India.
•ZTDSR-ZT wheat (ICM7&8) had a positive impact on the system yields (10–13%) and farm economics (19–22%) than CT modules (ICM1&2).•Residue retained ZTDSR-ZT wheat (ICM5–8) contributed 12–17% greater total OC stock than the CT practices (ICM1–4).•Modules ICM5–8 saved 8–12% water and increased the system water productivity by14-16% than the CT rice and wheat (ICM1&2).•Synergistic effects of ICM components reflected in complimenting the supply of nutrients besides conserving soil fertility.
Conservation agriculture (CA) coupled with the integrated crop management (ICM)-practices based on a whole-farm approach could preserve the agroecosystems to achieve the soil-related Sustainable ...Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, eight conventional and CA-based ICM practices have been evaluated for 6 years in a direct seeded rice-zero till wheat rotation; wherein, ICM1&2- conventional (CT) rice followed by (fb) flatbed wheat, ICM3&4- CT direct seeded rice (DSR) fb raised-bed wheat, ICM5&6- CA-based zero tilled (ZT) DSR fb ZT wheat with the wheat and rice residues, and ICM7&8- CA-based ZTDSR fb ZT wheat with the wheat, mungbean, and rice residues. The CA-based ICM7–8 practices outperformed the traditional (CT)-based ICM1–4 practices in terms of wheat equivalent yields (WEY) (10.8–14.7%) and sustainable yield indices (SYI) of rice (10.8–21.7%) and wheat (12.9–16.1%) crops, demonstrating the greater sustainability of RWR. Additionally, the ICM techniques led to a substantial (p < 0.05) improvement in the properties governing soil quality throughout 0.0–0.45 m soil depth. The ICM7–8 practices improved the soil quality index (SQI) by 24.7% and 56.2% compared to the ICM5–6 and ICM1–4 practices, respectively. The results showed that the SQI indicators including total carbon (TC), alkaline phosphatase (APA), urease (UA), nitrogen (N), and water-stable aggregates (WSA, 0.2 mm) were all improved. CA-based ICM5–8 practices substantially reduced the carbon footprints in terms of kg CO2-eq. ha−1 ranging from 9.1% to 47% compared to the CT-based ICM1–4 practices. In contrast, carbon efficiency (7.38% ± 0.06), and carbon sustainability index (CSI) (6.38 ± 0.06) were superior in the CT-derived ICM2&4 practices. Thus, the CA-based ICM practices proved to be environmentally more safe and clean and can thus sustain the food and soil security of the extensive rice-wheat rotation under the South Asian ecologies.
●Residue retained CA-based ICM7&8 practices had a positive impact on the system wheat equivalent yields.●Also, ICM7&8 practices enriched the soil quality index (SQI) by 24.7% and 56.2% than the ICM5–6 and ICM1–4, respectively.●Total carbon, alkaline phosphatase, nitrogen, and water-stable aggregates are identified as key indicators of SQI.●CA-based ICM5-8 substantially reduces the carbon footprint in terms of CO2 eq. kg ha-1 ranging from 9.1-47% than ICM1-4.●Synergistic effects of the CA-based ICMs are also reflected in improving soil's properties.
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