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Intensive cultivation and introduction of input‐responsive high‐yielding varieties with application of major nutrients in rice–wheat rotation of Indo‐Gangetic plains (IGPs) lead to multiple nutrient deficiencies. A survey of Indian soils has shown that 40% are deficient in available zinc (Zn), 33% in sulfur (S), and 33% in boron (B). Studies have indicated that application of these nutrients with major nutrients can improve the crop productivity. Keeping the importance of aromatic rice in view, coated‐urea materials and their effects on rice yields, nitrogen (N), and Zn content in different parts and input economics are evaluated. Three field trials are conducted on aromatic rice to test boron‐coated urea (BCU), sulfur‐coated urea (SCU), and zinc‐coated urea (ZnCU) in 2013 and 2014. Results indicate that the highest yields are obtained with 0.5% BCU, 5.0% SCU, and 2.5% ZnCU as zinc sulfate heptahydrate. These treatments increase grain yield by 13%, 25%, and 17.9% over prilled urea (PU). Moreover, 0.5% BCU, 5% SCU, and 2.5% ZnCU register the highest N, S, and Zn contents in bran, husk, grain, and straw. Coated‐urea materials also improve use efficiencies and harvest index of N and Zn over PU. The findings of this study suggest that 0.5% boron, 5.0% sulfur, or 2.5% zinc‐coated urea show improvement in returns and benefit–cost ratio in aromatic rice of western IGPs.

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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.

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