scholarly journals Resource Management Domains of Kharif and Rabi Season Fallows in Central Plateau Region of India: A Strategy for Accelerated Agricultural Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Gupta ◽  
Nirmal Kumar ◽  
SK Singh ◽  
Rabi N. Sahoo ◽  
IP Abrol

Over last few decades, acreage of total fallow lands (Kharif and Rabi seasons) in India has remained almost unchanged around 25Mha. The acreage of Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) Fallows in Madhya Pradesh (MP) are 1.98Mha and 5.51Mha, respectively. In the semi-arid agroclimatic zones of the states, Fallow-Wheat/Gram/Indian-Mustard cropping systems are practiced. After harvest of Kharif rice, kodo-kutki, maize or sorghum, farmers generally practice post-rainy season Rabi fallows in the sub-humid regions, south of Narmada River. Kharif fallowing is largely the result of the inability of the farmers to make planting dates independent of monsoon forecasts, and make efficient use of rain water. It appears that factors responsible for Kharif and Rabi fallows are distinctly different and a general consequence of distinctly different soil moisture regimes prevailing in the two crop seasons. Kharif and Rabi fallows have two distinct resource management domains. Whereas, Kharif fallows can be tackled with “PMP-dry seeding” agronomy, production constraints of Rabi fallows can be substantively tackled by shifting from tilled to zero-till agriculture with residue management to make efficient use of the conserved rain water. Some irrigation support will prove useful to tackle mid-season droughts in both situations. Conservation agricultural practices can significantly improve and stabilize crop yields in black soils and other associated soils of in the semi-arid tropics region of the Central India.

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 515 ◽  
Author(s):  
AL Cogle ◽  
RJ Bateman ◽  
DH Heiner

A farming systems project was commenced in the semi-arid tropics of north-eastern Australia to assess the cropping potential and reliability of a newly developing region. Emphasis was placed on evaluation of conservation cropping systems, since it was expected that these would be the most successful and protective uses of the land. This paper discusses the agronomy of peanuts, maize and sorghum grown under different conservative cropping practices (reduced tillage, no tillage, ley) on the soil (red earth) most likely to be developed for large-scale cropping in the region. Crop yields with all practices were limited by establishment difficulties including high soil temperatures, poor weed control and climatic variability. Reduced tillage was more successful than no tillage due to higher yields in dry years; however, in wet years no tillage produced similar yields. The ley cropping system may have some advantages in this environment for integrated production and resource protection.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julián Cuevas ◽  
Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos ◽  
Fernando del Moral ◽  
Juan J. Hueso ◽  
Ioannis K. Tsanis

A major challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals linked to Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition, under the current global crop production paradigm, is that increasing crop yields often have negative environmental impacts. It is therefore urgent to develop and adopt optimal soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) that can allow us to decouple these system parameters. Soil salinization is a major environmental hazard that limits agricultural potential and is closely linked to agricultural mismanagement and water resources overexploitation, especially in arid climates. Here we review literature seeking to ameliorate the negative effect of soil salinization on crop productivity and conduct a global meta-analysis of 128 paired soil quality and yield observations from 30 studies. In this regard, we compared the effectivity of different SICS that aim to cope with soil salinization across 11 countries, in order to reveal those that are the most promising. The analysis shows that besides case-specific optimization of irrigation and drainage management, combinations of soil amendments, conditioners, and residue management can contribute to significant reductions of soil salinity while significantly increasing crop yields. These results highlight that conservation agriculture can also achieve the higher yields required for upscaling and sustaining crop production.


2021 ◽  
pp. 117-137
Author(s):  
K. Mrunalini ◽  
Somasundaram Jayaraman ◽  
Ch. Srinivasa Rao ◽  
C. S. Praharaj ◽  
N. P. Singh ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. PALA ◽  
J. RYAN ◽  
J. DIEKMANN ◽  
M. SINGH

SUMMARYWith increasing land-use pressure in semi-arid, dryland Middle Eastern agriculture, fallow-based cereal production has given way to cropping intensification, including legume-based rotations along with conservation tillage and on-farm straw disposal. Such agronomic developments can only be biologically and economically assessed in multi-year trials. Thus, this 10-year study examined the influence of tillage systems (conventional and shallow or conservation) and variable stubble management, including compost application, on yields of barley and vetch grown in rotation. Barley yielded higher with compost applied every two or four years than with burning or soil-incorporating the straw and stubble. Barley straw and grain yields were generally higher with the mouldboard plough. Similarly with vetch, treatments involving compost application yielded significantly higher than burning or incorporating the straw and stubble. Despite yearly differences between crop yields, the pattern of treatment differences was consistent. Thus, the cereal–vetch rotation system is sustainable, while excess straw could be used as compost with benefit to the crop. Though there was no clear advantage of the shallow conservation-type tillage, the energy costs are less, thus indicating its possible advantage over conventional deep tillage in such rotational cropping systems


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