scholarly journals Establishment of Crops under Minimal Soil Disturbance and Crop Residue Retention in Rice-Based Cropping System: Yield Advantage, Soil Health Improvement, and Economic Benefit

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 581
Author(s):  
Nazmus Salahin ◽  
Mohammad Jahiruddin ◽  
Mohammad Rafiqul Islam ◽  
Md. Khairul Alam ◽  
M. Enamul Haque ◽  
...  

Minimum soil disturbance and increased crop residue retention practices are promising options to enhance soil organic matter, nutrient concentration and crop yield. However, the potentials of the practices in improving soil properties, increasing crop yield and in ensuring economic return have not been tested in the monsoon rice (Oryza sativa L.)‑lentil (Lens culinaris L.)/wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)‑jute (Corchorus culinaris L.) cropping systems on seasonally flooded lowlands of the Eastern Gangetic Plain of South Asia. A field trial for consecutive three years was conducted in the Gangetic Plains of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of zero tillage (ZT), strip-tillage (ST), bed planting (BP) and conventional tillage (CT) with two residue retention levels (RL—a low level similar to current farmers’ practice and RH—increased retention) on soil properties, yield and economic return. Between rice and jute crops, lentil was grown for the 1st and 2nd years and wheat for the 3rd year during the dry winter season. The ST and BP performed better than the CT and ZT in terms of yield of rice and lentil, whereas ST and ZT performed better than other practices in the case of jute. Higher residue retention (RH) increased crop yield for all the years. The highest rice equivalent yield (sum of 3 crop yields, expressed as rice yield) and the greatest benefit-cost ratio (BCR) were recorded with ST and RH. The increased yield in the ST was associated with reduced soil bulk density (BD), while ST with RH increased soil water (SW) and decreased penetration resistance (PR) of soil. Compared to CT, minimum soil disturbance of ZT and ST increased soil organic matter (SOM) stock by 24% and 23%, respectively; total nitrogen (TN) by 23.5% and 18.4%, respectively; extractable sulphur (S) by 21% and 18%, respectively; whereas Zinc (Zn) concentrations increased by 53% and 47%, respectively, in the upper 0–5 cm soil depth. Accumulation of extractable P, S and Zn in the 0–5 cm depth of soil followed the sequence as ZT > ST > BP > CT practice. The higher amount of residue retention significantly increased SOM, TN and extractable P, K, S and Zn concentrations at 0–5 cm and 5–10 cm soil depths. The 3-year study suggests that ST with RH is a potential crop management approach for the seasonally flooded rice-lentil/wheat-jute cropping systems to enhance soil nutrients status, crop yield and farm economy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 929-952
Author(s):  
Martin A. Bolinder ◽  
Felicity Crotty ◽  
Annemie Elsen ◽  
Magdalena Frac ◽  
Tamás Kismányoky ◽  
...  

Abstract International initiatives are emphasizing the capture of atmospheric CO2 in soil organic C (SOC) to reduce the climatic footprint from agroecosystems. One approach to quantify the contribution of management practices towards that goal is through analysis of long-term experiments (LTEs). Our objectives were to analyze knowledge gained in literature reviews on SOC changes in LTEs, to evaluate the results regarding interactions with pedo-climatological factors, and to discuss disparities among reviews in data selection criteria. We summarized mean response ratios (RRs) and stock change rate (SCR) effect size indices from twenty reviews using paired comparisons (N). The highest RRs were found with manure applications (30%, N = 418), followed by aboveground crop residue retention and the use of cover crops (9–10%, N = 995 and 129), while the effect of nitrogen fertilization was lowest (6%, N = 846). SCR for nitrogen fertilization exceeded that for aboveground crop residue retention (233 versus 117 kg C ha−1 year−1, N = 183 and 279) and was highest for manure applications and cover crops (409 and 331 kg C ha−1 year−1, N = 217 and 176). When data allows, we recommend calculating both RR and SCR because it improves the interpretation. Our synthesis shows that results are not always consistent among reviews and that interaction with texture and climate remain inconclusive. Selection criteria for study durations are highly variable, resulting in irregular conclusions for the effect of time on changes in SOC. We also discuss the relationships of SOC changes with yield and cropping systems, as well as conceptual problems when scaling-up results obtained from field studies to regional levels.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Joy L. Barsotti ◽  
Upendra M. Sainju ◽  
Andrew W. Lenssen ◽  
Zach J. Miller ◽  
Patrick G. Hatfield

Sheep (<em>Ovis aries </em>L<em>.</em>) grazing, a cost-effective method of weed control compared with herbicide application and tillage, may influence soil C fractions by consuming crop residue and weeds and returning C through feces and urine to the soil. We examined the effect of three weed management practices (sheep grazing, herbicide application, and tillage) and two cropping sequences (continuous spring wheat [<em>Triticum aestivum </em>L.] [CSW] and spring wheat-pea [<em>Pisum sativum </em>L.]/barley [<em>Hordeum vulgare </em>L.] mixture hay-fallow [W-P/B-F]) on soil microbial biomass C (MBC), potential C mineralization (PCM), and particulate organic C (POC) in relation to soil organic C (SOC) at the 0- to 30-cm depth from 2009 to 2011 in southwestern Montana. The MBC at 0 to 5 cm was greater with tillage on CSW than tillage on W-P/B-F in 2009 and 2011, but was greater with herbicide application on CSW than tillage on CSW in 2010. The POC at 0 to 5 cm and 15 to 30 cm was greater with sheep grazing than herbicide application on CSW and W-P/B-F, but at 5 to 15 cm was greater with grazing on CSW. The MBC, PCM, and POC at all depths decreased from 2009 to 2011. Crop residue incorporation into the soil increased MBC with tillage on CSW. Lower proportions of labile than nonlabile organic matter through feces and urine probably reduced MBC at the soil surface, but increased POC with sheep grazing compared with herbicide application on CSW and W-P/B-F. Sheep grazing may increase coarse soil organic matter compared with microbial biomass in dryland cropping systems.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 553 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Whitbread ◽  
C. W. Davoren ◽  
V. V. S. R. Gupta ◽  
R. Llewellyn ◽  
the late D. Roget

Continuous-cropping systems based on no-till and crop residue retention have been widely adopted across the low-rainfall cereal belt in southern Australia in the last decade to manage climate risk and wind erosion. This paper reports on two long-term field experiments that were established in the late 1990s on texturally different soil types at a time of uncertainty about the profitability of continuous-cropping rotations in low-rainfall environments. Continuous-cereal systems significantly outyielded the traditional pasture–wheat systems in five of the 11 seasons at Waikerie (light-textured soil), resulting in a cumulative gross margin of AU$1600 ha–1 after the initial eight seasons, almost double that of the other treatments. All rotation systems at Kerribee (loam-textured soil) performed poorly, with only the 2003 season producing yields close to 3 t ha–1 and no profit achieved in the years 2004–08. For low-rainfall environments, the success of a higher input cropping system largely depends on the ability to offset the losses in poor seasons by capturing greater benefits from good seasons; therefore, strategies to manage climatic risk are paramount. Fallow efficiency, or the efficiency with which rainfall was stored during the period between crops, averaged 17% at Kerribee and 30% at Waikerie, also indicating that soil texture strongly influences soil evaporation. A ‘responsive’ strategy of continuous cereal with the occasional, high-value ‘break crop’ when seasonal conditions are optimal is considered superior to fixed or pasture–fallow rotations for controlling grass, disease or nutritional issues.


1971 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Addiscott ◽  
A. E. Johnston

SUMMARYThe K balance, the difference between K added as fertilizer or farmyard manure (FYM) and K removed by the crops, was calculated for soils from the Classical and Ley-Arable experiments at Rothamsted and for the Woburn Ley-Arable experiment, for the duration of each experiment. Linear regressions on K balance accounted for 78% of the variation in exchangeable K (Ke) and for 83% in K uptake by ryegrass (KP) in the Classical experiments, for 56 and60% respectively in the Ley-Arable experiments at Rothamsted, and for 39 and 6% in the Woburn Ley-Arable experiment.Regressions of Ke and Kp on K balance suggested that, in the Rothamsted Ley-Arable experiments, rather more than half of the K balance remained extractable by ryegrass from the plots with a rotation of crops, and apparently all of the K balance from those under continuous grass. About one-fifth of the K balance remained extractable by ryegrass from the soils in the Rothamsted Classical experiments and soils given FYM retained K slightly better than other soils. With all soils about half the K extractable by ryegrass was exchangeable to ammonium acetate.The plots with FYM or under continuous grass contain more organic matter than other plots in the same experiments. The following possible effects of increasing the organic matter content of the soils were investigated by calculating the multiple regressions of K, and KB on K balance with either percentage of organic C, total CEC, or organic CEC:(1) loss of K decreased by increasing the water retention and lessening leaching;(2) improved K retention by increasing the total cation exchange capacity (CEC) available for K absorption;(3) improved K retention by a mechanism arising from the different selectivities of clay and organic matter for K relative to Ca.In the Classical experiments, where organic matter usually increases because of FYM additions, effect (2) seems the most probable, perhaps because the K given in the FYM was already absorbed by organic exchange sites. In the Ley–Arable experiments, where the K was given mainly as soluble K fertilizer and the organic matter develops mainly under grass, effects (1) or (3) seemed to operate, probably simultaneously.The Woburn Ley-Arable experiment had no continuous grass plots, the soils differed little in organic matter content and no deductions could be made.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 712-717
Author(s):  
Renu Kumari ◽  
Ranbir Singh ◽  
Neeraj Kumar

Soil is a very important factor of the plant growth and crop yield. But   now a days, very small area of the soil can actually be fertile for agriculture, and if we manage improperly it can be depleted. So the big problem, how we manage and increase the fertility of soil. It has been reported that soil organic carbon and soil matter is the most important indicator of soil quality and soil health. It is also beneficial for agricultural sustainability. In this review, we summarized how crop residue management affects soil organic carbon (SOC), soil organic matter (SOM), soil aggregation, effect of residue burning and crop productivity in different cropping system. Proper use of crop residue can increase or maintain the physical and chemical properties of SOM and improve the quality of soil. Manure or crop residue alone may not be adequate to maintain SOC levels. Knowledge and assessment of changes (positive or negative) in SOC and SOM with time is still needed to evaluate the impact of different management practices.


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