scholarly journals Zero Tillage, Residue Retention and System-Intensification with Legumes for Enhanced Pearl Millet Productivity and Mineral Biofortification

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Mukhtar Ahmad Faiz ◽  
Ram Swaroop Bana ◽  
Anil Kumar Choudhary ◽  
Alison M. Laing ◽  
Ruchi Bansal ◽  
...  

Pearl millet-based cropping systems with intensive tillage operations prior to sowing have limited sustainable productivity in the low-irrigation conditions of semi-arid farming ecologies, such as those in the north Indian plains. The adoption of improved management practices such as zero tillage with residue retention (ZTR) and diversification with the inclusion of summer pulse crops has the potential to improve cropping system sustainability. Therefore, an experiment was designed to compare two improved management practices, zero tillage (ZT) and ZTR, to conventional tillage (CT), across three pearl millet-based cropping systems: pearl millet–chickpea (PM–CP), PM–CP–mungbean (MB), and PM–CP–forage pearl millet in a two-year experiment. Experimental treatments were compared in terms of pearl millet productivity, mineral biofortification, and greenhouse gas emissions. Results showed a significant increase in pearl millet yield attributes, grain and stover productivity, nutrient uptake, and micronutrient biofortification in the PM–CP–MB cropping system under ZTR relative to other treatment combinations. On-farm evaluation at different locations also showed that the intensification of PM–CP system using summer crops enhanced pearl millet productivity across diverse tillage systems. Overall, zero tillage practices combined with diversified pearl millet-based cropping systems are likely to be management practices, which farmers can use to sustainably maintain or increase cropping system productivity in the various semi-arid areas of the world.

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-63
Author(s):  
K Pariyar ◽  
A Chaudhary ◽  
P Sapkota ◽  
S Sharma ◽  
CB Rana ◽  
...  

The effects of two tillage methods (zero tillage and conventional tillage), two residue managements (residue kept and residue removed) and two levels of cropping system (maize + soybean and sole maize) were studied over 3 years (2015-2017) at Dailekh district of Nepal. Arun-2 and Puja were the varieties of maize and soybean used respectively, followed by winter wheat. The results revealed that the maize + soybean system had significantly higher plant population and ear population (34.83 thousands ha-1 and 34.35 thousands ha-1, respectively), grains per row (37.1), ear length (16.6 cm) and 20.5% higher grain yield as compared to sole maize. The highest maize equivalent yield (7.92 t ha-1) was recorded in maize + soybean as compared to the lower grain yield equivalent (7.06 t ha-1) in sole maize. Zero tillage accounted relatively higher benefits (high net income and B:C ratio) as compared to conventional tillage. The residue kept plot resulted significantly higher B:C ratio (2.41) than the residue removed (2.11) and the maize + soybean recorded 82.5% greater B:C ratio compared to sole maize. Net annual income was significantly higher in zero tillage, residue kept and maize + soybean system (NRs. 223072.00, 222958.00 and 269016.00 ha-1 respectively). Such combinations are recommended for Dailekh district of Nepal to have profitable crop productivity. SAARC J. Agri., 17(1): 49-63 (2019)


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bibek Thapa ◽  
Keshab Raj Pande ◽  
Baburam Khanal ◽  
Santosh Marahatta

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of tillage practices, residue management and cropping system on soil properties at NMRP, Rampur, Chitwan from November 2015 to April 2016. The experiment was laid on Strip split design with combination of 12 different treatments i.e, zero tillage & conventional tillage as main plot in the strip, residue retention & residue removal as sub-plot factor and maize – wheat, maize + soybean – wheat & soybean – wheat cropping system as sub-sub plot factor. Three replications of the treatments were made. Soil sample before experiment and after harvest of wheat was taken (0-15cm). The experiment showed significant effect of zero tillage on organic carbon (2.169%) and on total soil nitrogen (0.112 %). Zero tillage with retention of residues is valuable tool for the conservation agriculture and helps in sustainability of soil however long-term research for the tillage management and residue retention should be conducted to highlight the major effects on change in properties of soil.Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 6(2): 164-168 


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 14-30
Author(s):  
M Jahangir Alam ◽  
S Ahmed ◽  
MK Islam ◽  
R Islam ◽  
M Islam

Cropping systems of Bangladesh are highly diverse and cultivation costs of puddled transplanted rice (PTR) are high. Therefore, an improved system is needed to address the issues, a field experiment was conducted during 2011-2013 to evaluate system intensification with varying degrees of cropping systems and residue retention. Four cropping systems (CSE) namely CSE1: T. boro rice-T. aman rice (control), CSE2: wheat-mungbean-T. aman rice (wheat and mungbean sown using a power tiller-operated seeder (PTOS) with full tillage in a single pass; puddled transplanted aman), CSE3: wheat-mungbean-dry seeded DS aman rice (DSR), and CSE4: wheat-mungbean-DS aman rice (all sown by PTOS with strip tillage) were compared. Two levels of aman rice residue retention (removed; partial retention i.e. 40 cm of standing stubble) were compared in sub plots. Grain yield was significantly higher (by 11%) when wheat was grown after DSR than PTR. Similarly, PTR and DSR (aman rice) produced statistically similar crop yields. Rice residue retention resulted a significantly higher (by 10%) wheat yield and a slightly increased (by 6%) mungbean yield than that of residues removed. The system productivity of CSE4 was significantly higher (by 10%) than CSE1 when averaged of the two years data. Partial aman residue retention gave significantly higher system yield than residue removal (by 0.6 t ha-1). After two years, no effect of CSE or partial aman residue retention was found on soil physical property (bulk density) of the top soil. Therefore, CSE4 along with residue retention would be more effective for sustainable crop production. The Agriculturists 2019; 17(1-2) 14-30


Author(s):  
R. Sammauria ◽  
O.P. Meena ◽  
M.R. Yadav ◽  
A.K. Gupta ◽  
H.L. Yadav ◽  
...  

Continuous adoption of Pearl millet-Wheat cropping system led to reduction in productivity which put a serious threat to its sustainability in semi-arid eastern plain zone of Rajasthan, India. Crop diversification with wider choice with a variety of crops is being promoted as an alternative to profit maximization with enhanced soil fertility status. Therefore, a long term experiment was initiated to evaluate the production potential, sustainability, resource-use efficiency and economics of nine Pearl millet based cropping systems. Result revealed that system productivity in terms of pearl millet equivalent yield (PMEY) was highest (30488 kg ha-1) with groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion crop rotation. Moreover, groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion recorded the highest SYI and land use efficiency (0.65 and 73.97%) followed by pearl millet-wheat-cluster bean-barley sequence (0.63 and 65.75%). The groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion also generated highest number of man days/ha/year (405). The highest values of organic carbon were found under green gram-mustard-pearl millet-lentil and cluster bean-pea-pearl millet-lentil. The maximum value of available P was recorded with cluster bean-mustard-green gram-garden cress followed by the groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion sequence. Available K decreased significantly from their initial values in all the cropping systems except groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion crop rotation. Among the various systems, groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion realized the highest net returns ( 213000 ha-1), followed by pearl millet-wheat-cluster bean-barley ( 163254 ha-1). Overall, it can be concluded that under the semi-arid agro climatic conditions of Rajasthan, groundnut-wheat-cluster bean-onion, followed by pearl millet-wheat-cluster bean-barley, were more productive, sustainable, resource use efficient and remunerative than other cropping systems.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Muhammad Farooq ◽  
Naqib Ullah ◽  
Faisal Nadeem ◽  
Ahmad Nawaz ◽  
Kadambot H. M. Siddique

Summary Continuous rotation of rice with wheat in rice–wheat system has resulted in stagnant yields and reduced profit margins while deteriorating the soil health. Legume incorporation in existing rice–wheat rotations might be a viable option to improve soil health and productivity. We investigated the influence of puddled transplanted flooded rice and direct-seeded rice on weed dynamics, soil health, productivity, and profitability of post-rice wheat and chickpea grown under zero tillage and conventional tillage. The previous direct-seeded rice crop was either sown alone or intercropped with sesbania as brown manure. The experiment comprised different rice–wheat and rice–chickpea systems which had been in place for two years: with and without rice residue retention. The initial soil analysis indicated that the plots with sesbania brown manuring in direct-seeded rice had the lowest soil bulk density (17.2%) and highest soil porosity (19.3%). Zero tillage in wheat or chickpea in the plots previously cultivated with co-culture of sesbania and direct-seeded rice increased total soil organic carbon by 13–22% in both years. The plots with sesbania brown manuring in direct-seeded rice followed by zero till or conventional till wheat and the plots with direct-seeded rice followed by zero till wheat with rice residue retention recorded the greater concentrations of total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and exchangeable potassium. Zero tillage in wheat and chickpea in post-rice sesbania brown manuring plots produced 41% and 43% more grain yield than those in the puddled transplanted flooded rice with conventional tillage and had the highest profitability. Overall, the rice–chickpea systems had better soil health and profitability than rice–wheat cropping systems. In conclusion, direct-seeded rice intercropped with sesbania followed by wheat and chickpea under zero tillage suppressed weed flora and improved soil physical properties, nutrient availability, productivity, and profitability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-51
Author(s):  
Puspa Dulal ◽  
◽  
Santosh Marahatta ◽  

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of land management practices and residual effect of nutrient management practices of rice on the performance of subsequent wheat crop in the rice-wheat cropping system in Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during June 2018-March 2019. The experiment was executed in a split-plot, included two establishment methods viz. (i) conventional tilled dry direct-seeded rice followed by (fb) zero tillage wheat (CT-DDSR fb ZT) (ii) puddled transplanted rice followed by conventional tillage wheat (Pu-TPR fb CT) as main plot treatments, and four nutrient management practices: (i) 100% recommended dose (100% RDF; 150:45:45 and 80:60:40 kg N, P2O5, and K2O ha-1 respectively for rice and wheat), (ii) Residue retention @ 5 t ha-1 of wheat on rice fb residue of rice on wheat + 75% RDF of each crop (RR +75%RDF), (iii) Nutrient expert (NE) dose (140:56:53; 140:60:45 kg N, P2O5, and K2O ha-1 for rice and wheat respectively), (iv) Brown/green manuring of Sesbania in rice fb rice residue @ 3.5 t ha-1 in wheat +75% RDF of each crop (BM/GM fb R+75% RDF) as subplot treatments with three replications. The variety of wheat ‘Bijay’ was sown @120 kg ha-1 with spacing 20 cm × continuous. The data on phenology, yield, yield attributes, and economics were recorded and analyzed by R studio. The study revealed that none of the yield attributes and yield of wheat were significantly influenced by the establishment methods. Significantly more effective tillers (281.94 m-2) and grains per spike (44.48) and higher straw yield (5.95 t ha-1) were recorded under NE dose. The grain yield of wheat was 21% and 16% more under NE dose and BM/GM fb R+75% RDF respectively compared to 100% RDF. CT-DDSR fb ZT wheat had slightly less net returns (NRs. 4523 ha-1) than Pu-TPR fb CT-wheat. NE dose was the most profitable. Hence, rice establishment methods were indifferent but NE dose was the best nutrient management practice for better production and profitability for the wheat in the rice-wheat system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1543-1562
Author(s):  
Rafi Qamar ◽  
Atique ur Rehman ◽  
Hafiz Muhammad Rashad Javeed ◽  
Abdul Rehman Abdul Rehman ◽  
Muhammad Ehsan Safdar ◽  
...  

Rice-wheat production is an essential component of cropping systems in the Indus-Ganga Plains (IGP) which play a pivotal role in food security of south Asia. These crops are being cultivated on an area of about 13.5 M ha of South Asia. In rice-wheat cropping system, the major reason for lower wheat grain yield is use of unwise tillage practices during wheat seedbed preparation, cultivation of late maturing rice varieties, water shortage, labor shortage, high cost of fertilizers and poor crop management practices. Resource-conserving technology improves the sustainability and productivity of wheat, which ultimately increase the farmer’s livelihood and reduce poverty. Tillage plays an important role in agricultural operation for soil manipulation to optimize the crop productivity. Different tillage systems are being practiced for wheat production in rice-wheat cropping systems including intensive tillage system, conventional and deep tillage, conservation tillage that consisting of minimum tillage, ridge tillage, and no-till or zero tillage system. Zero tillage gives more accessible and efficient planting system that ensures timely wheat cultivation, cut off the tillage operation, better crop residue management that ultimately minimize the cost of production and keeps environment clean. Operational costs for wheat sowing are 50-60% lower with zero tillage (ZT) sowing than with conventional sowing. The cost saving effect is the main reason for the spread of zero tillage technology in rice-wheat system. Current paper presented a review of different tillage systems and their effects on soil physical properties, plant available water, soil organic matter and nutrients, rice residues, wheat yield and farmer’s economics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukesh Kumar ◽  
A.K. Ghorai ◽  
S Mitra ◽  
B Majumdar ◽  
M Ramesh Naik ◽  
...  

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of nutrient and crop residue incorporation on productivity jute based cropping system in split plot design during 2012-14. The main plot comprised of five cropping sequences viz., rice-rice, jute-rice-wheat, jute-rice-baby corn-jute (for leafy vegetable), jute-rice-garden pea, jute-rice-mustard-mungbean andfour nutrient management practicesviz. 75% recommended doses of fertilizers (RDF) with and without crop residue (rice, wheat, corn, garden pea and mungbean with their respective cropping sequence) and 100 % RDF with and without crop residue in sub plot. Jute-rice-baby corn- jute(leafy vegetable) cropping system recorded the highest system productivity (192.36q/ha) followed by jute-rice-garden pea (88.6 q/ha), water use efficiency (34.86 kg/m3), production efficiency (65.9 kg/ha/day), and economic efficiency (Rs724/ha/day) followed by jute-rice-garden pea recorded those parameter were (89.4 q/ha), 27.01 kg/m3, 30.31 kg/ha/day and Rs.346/ha/day, respectively.The land use efficacy (94.5%) was higher in jute-rice-mustard- mungbean followed by jute-rice-baby corn-veg. jute(93.2%). The higher system productivity of all crop sequences was recorded with 100 % RDF with crop residue. However it was at par with 75% RDF with crop residue and100% RDF.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caihong Yang ◽  
Yanxiang Geng ◽  
Xing Zhou Fu ◽  
Jeffrey A. Coulter ◽  
Qiang Chai

Wind erosion is a major environmental problem in arid and semi-arid regions, where it has significant impacts on desertification and soil degradation. To understand the effects of cropping systems and tillage methods on the reduction of soil wind erosion, wind tunnel investigations were performed on soil samples from an irrigated field in an experiment conducted in semi-arid northwestern China in 2016–2018. Three cropping systems for annual spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)/maize (Zea mays L.) strip intercropping (W/M), a two-year wheat-winter rape-maize rotation (WRM), and a two-year wheat-maize rotation (WM)) were each evaluated with two tillage methods (conventional tillage without wheat straw retention (CT) and no-tillage with 25–30 cm tall wheat straw (NT)). The mean rate of soil erosion by wind with NT was 18.9% to 36.2% less than that with CT. With increasing wind velocity, the rate of soil erosion by wind increased for both CT and NT but was faster with CT than NT. Soil wind erosion occurred with a wind velocity ≥14 m s−1, and NT greatly decreased the rate of soil erosion when wind velocity exceeded 14 m s−1. W/M, WRM, and WM with NT increased non-erodible aggregates by 53.7%, 53.7%, and 54.9% in 2017, and 51.3%, 49.6% and 44.6% in 2018, respectively, than conventional tillage. At a height of 0–20 cm, the rate of soil transport with CT decreased with increasing height. The volume of soil transport at a height of 0–4 cm and soil transport percentage at a height of 0–4 and 0–20 cm (Q0–4/Q0–20) with NT were less than with CT. These findings show that NT with cropping system intensification can be an effective strategy for resisting wind erosion in irrigated semi-arid regions, thereby reducing the negative environmental impacts of crop production.


Author(s):  
Kavita . ◽  
V. S. Hooda ◽  
Rajbir Garg ◽  
Kavinder .

An ongoing field experiment established in 2012 at Agronomy Research Farm, Chaudhary Charan Singh (CCS) Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, India was selected to evaluated the effect of three tillage practices (zero tillage, furrow irrigated raised bed system and conventional tillage with mouldboard plow ) and four weed management practices (W1: Atrazine (50% W.P.) at750 g/ha in maize and pinoxaden 50 g/ha + premix of metsulfuron and carfentrazone (Ally Express 50% DF) 25 g/ha + 0.2% NIS as post-emergence in wheat, W2: Tembotrione (Laudis 42% Sc @ 120 g/ha + S 1000 ml/ha (10-15 days/ 2-4 leaf stage) in maize and clodinafop 60 g/ha + metsulfuron 4 g/ha as post- emergence in wheat, W3: Two HW in maize (20 to 40 days) and wheat (30 to 50 days), W4: Weedy check in maize and wheat) on nutrient uptake and yield of wheat. Treatment was replicated thrice with spilt plot design. Plant samples were collected in the month of April, 2016 after the harvesting of wheat. Significantly higher yield of wheat was reported under FIRBS (66.1 qha-1) followed by zero tillage and under weedy check treatment as compared to other under different tillage and weed management practices. These results suggest that zero tillage and FIRBS along with the weedy check treatment results in higher wheat yield followed by maize.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document