Improving water productivity in moisture-limited rice-based cropping systems through incorporation of maize and mungbean: A modelling approach

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of crop residue covers (0.0; 4.5; 9.0; 13.5 t ha-1 millet dry matter) on water use and production of onion cultivated in no-tillage planting system (NT) as compared to conventional tillage system (CT). The study was carried out at Embrapa Hortaliças, Brazil, under the typical Savanna biome. Irrigations were performed using a sprinkle irrigation system when soil-water tension reached between 25 and 30 kPa. The experimental design was randomized blocks with three replications. Total net water depth applied to NT treatment was 19% smaller than the CT treatment, however, water savings increased to 30% for the first 30 days following seedlings transplant. Crop biomass, bulb size and yield, and rate of rotten bulbs were not significantly affected by treatments. The water productivity index increased linearly with increasing crop residue in NT conditions. Water productivity index of NT treatments with crop residue was on average 30% higher than that in the CT system (8.13 kg m-3).

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Mitigating N2O emissions from cropping systems after conversion from pasture − a modelling approach

European Journal of Agronomy ◽

10.1016/j.eja.2016.06.007 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 82 ◽

pp. 254-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Henrike Mielenz ◽

Peter J. Thorburn ◽

Robert H. Harris ◽

Peter R. Grace ◽

Sally J. Officer

Keyword(s):

Cropping Systems ◽

N2o Emissions ◽

Modelling Approach

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The double-edge sword of heterogeneous ripening pattern in winter wheat cultivar mixtures: A case study under post-anthesis water stress

10.1101/705384 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Abbas Haghshenas ◽

Yahya Emam ◽

Ali Reza Sepaskhah ◽

Mohsen Edalat

Keyword(s):

Water Stress ◽

Grain Yield ◽

Deficit Irrigation ◽

Wheat Cultivar ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Block Design ◽

Water Productivity ◽

Water Shortage ◽

Research Field ◽

Cultivar Mixtures

AbstractWheat cultivar mixtures with heterogeneous phenology has a less-explored potential to improve crop diversity, yield stability, and agronomic features particularly in response to the currently increased environmental stresses and uncertainties. To investigate the option of using wheat cultivar mixtures with different ripening patterns for mitigating the adverse effects of post-anthesis water stress, a two-year field experiment was conducted during 2014-15 and 2015-16 growing seasons at the research field of School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Iran. The factorial experiment was a Randomized Complete Block Design with 3 replicates, in which 15 mixture treatments including monocultures and every 11 possible mixtures of four early- to middle-ripening wheat cultivars were grown under two normal and post-anthesis deficit-irrigation conditions. Measured traits and estimated indices included grain yield and its components, canopy temperature, soil water content, water productivity, susceptibility index, and water use efficiency. The results indicated that under the stressful condition of post-anthesis deficit-irrigation, heterogeneity in the ripening pattern of mixtures was declined. Consequently, dissimilarities in grain yields as well as various agronomic characters of mixture treatments were also lessened. This may be an evidence for the negative effect of water shortage stress on heterogeneity within agroecosystems. Although cultivar mixtures showed some casual advantages in some traits, such beneficial effects were not consistent across all conditions. Moreover, no cultivar mixture produced higher grain yield than the maximum monoculture. Despite the general expectation for beneficial ecological services from cultivar mixtures, in many cases disadvantageous blends were found which led to a considerable reduction in grain yield and water productivity. Therefore, it is suggested that unless the performance, and preferably the involved mechanisms, of cultivar mixtures are not fully understood, use of blends as an alternative for conventional high-input wheat cropping systems may lead to adverse results.

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Assessing Crop and Water Productivity Performance of Different Crops and Cropping Systems

Agricultural Science Digest - A Research Journal ◽

10.18805/ag.d-5481 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Ramesh Kumar ◽

R.S. Yadav ◽

Amit Kumawat ◽

Vinay Nangia ◽

N.D. Yadava ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Water Use ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Water Productivity ◽

N Uptake ◽

Indian Mustard ◽

Cropping System ◽

Bt Cotton ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Study Region

Background: Freshwater in sufficient quantity and adequate quality is a prerequisite for human societies and natural ecosystems. To adequately feed 9.3 billion people in 2050, consumptive water use (i.e. transpired water) by all food and fodder crops needs to increase from its present estimated level of 7000 km3/year to 12,586 km3/year. However, fresh water resources are increasingly getting scarce because of increased competition among a multitude of users. Getting agriculture to perform with progressively smaller allocation of renewable water resources will remain a challenge on global scale. To meet the challenge there is an urgent need to improve the crop water productivity to ensure the sustainability of agriculture. Methods: An experiment was carried out at village Menawali, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan during both kharif and rabi seasons to assess productivity, economics, N-uptake and water use of different crops. An area of 187 ha comprising 25 farmers irrigated by common irrigation channels were selected to collect the information. The information required i.e. soil, crop management, growth, phonological, yields, water balance, N-uptake and water use efficiency of each crops were collected from 15 farmers. Bt-cotton and clusterbean of kharif and wheat and Indian mustard in rabi were prominent crops, cotton-wheat, cotton-mustard, clusterbean-wheat and clusterbean-mustard were major cropping sequences of the study region. Result: In kharif season, Bt-cotton gave higher economic yields than clusterbean and amongst rabi season crops, economic yields of wheat and mustard were 4255, 1778 kg/ha, respectively. The economic yield of cropping sequences varied from 3741-6514 kg/ha and were higher for cotton-wheat (6218 kg/ha), intermediate for clusterbean-wheat (5785 kg/ha) and lower for cotton-mustard (3741 kg/ha) and clusterbean-mustard (3308 kg/ha). The cotton-wheat (₹1181.2 mm) sequence had highest water use. Clusterbean-wheat cropping system recorded highest water productivity (16.5 kg/ha mm) followed by clusterbean-mustard (14.9 kg/ha mm). The clusterbean-mustard (₹456/ha mm) cropping sequence was most profitable and fetched highest net return followed by clusterbean-wheat (₹383/ha mm).

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