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Stapper, 1987) and in India (Narang et al., 1994). Crook and Ennos (1995) found that stem strength decreased Lodging control of irrigated spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by 20% as N fertilizer rate increased from 160 to 240 kg through both crop management practices and cultivar improvement is needed to increase yield and grain quality in farmer fields, especially ha Ϫ1 . Similarly, application of N at 200 kg ha Ϫ1 decreased in developing countries where wheat production under irrigation pre-breaking strength of the second stem internode, leading dominates. The objectives of this research were to: (i) determine how to increased lodging (Garg et al., 1973). Ali (1993) and different planting systems combined with cultivar choice can alter lodg-Kheiralla et al. (1993) reported 19.9 and 7.2% less grain ing incidence; (ii) provide a better understanding of planting system ϫ yield in Egypt caused by lodging at 225 and 275 kg N genotype interactions to identify improved management alternatives ha Ϫ1 compared with lower N rates between 150 and for farmers facing chronic wheat crop lodging; and (iii) assess potential 175 kg N ha Ϫ1 . lodging consequences that may be associated with the translocation Lodging is most common with intensively managed containing the Lr19 gene which has been shown to contribute to crops and usually occurs near or after anthesis, mainly increased grain yield potential. Lodging behavior and yield potential the result of wind during or soon after irrigation or rainwere studied for 16 spring wheat genotypes under disease free, irrigated conditions at the CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de Mejora-storm events. To avoid lodging, many farmers in south miento de Maíz y Trigo) experiment station near Ciudad Obregon, Asia forego the last irrigation, which may be crucial for Sonora, Mexico, during the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 crop cycles. grain filling and can ultimately limit grain yield (Hobbs Among the genotypes tested were SUPER SERI, which carries the et al., 1998). This practice is common in India for the Lr19 gene, and Seri 82, which is a near isogenic cultivar lacking the following reasons: (i) occurrence of frequent high winds gene. Comparisons were made between the widely used, flat planting during grain-filling; (ii) the wide use of flat planting and system with flood irrigation versus an innovative bed planting system flood irrigation which can lead to extended, saturated with furrow irrigation that has been widely adopted by many farmers soil moisture conditions following irrigation that are in northwest Mexico. An additional treatment using support nets to conducive to crop lodging; and (iii) the lack of accepteliminate lodging for the flat planting system was included to estimate able cultivars that are lodging tolerant at higher N rates yield losses attributable to lodging. There were yield differences among planting systems and genotypes and their interactions were (1998) compared several sets of near isogenic lines (with Published in Crop Sci. 45:1448-1455 (2005). and without the tran...

Wheat is the second most important staple food crop of India and contributes a major share to food basket of the country. Since majority of the area under wheat is irrigated, it consumes huge quantity of fresh water for its cultivation. The availability of good quality water for irrigation is decreasing over a period of time due to vagaries of monsoon, urbanization and industrialization. The biggest challenge on this front is to improve the efficiency and productivity of water being used in existing cropping system. Therefore, it is the need of hour to improve water use efficiency for wheat production. In the milieu, the present investigation was taken with an objective of studying the effect of pre-germinated seed in crop establishment under sub-optimal soil moisture conditions by using the residual soil moisture after harvesting of rice in Indo-Gangetic plains, so that pre sowing irrigation requirement for crop establishment may be cut and reduced in time period which require from pre-sowing irrigation to field preparation. This experiment was conducted for two consecutive years 2010-11 and 2011-12 to evaluate the influence of hydropriming on the water use efficiency and grain yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under moisture stress. The experiment was conducted in split plot design with three replications keeping moisture stress treatments (optimum moisture, sub-optimal moisture and dry soil followed by irrigation) in main plots and seed priming treatments (dry seed, hydropriming, and pre-germinated seeds) in subplots. Pregerminated seed produced significantly higher grain yield (5.49 t ha of experiment showed that priming with plain water and pre-germinated seeds improved germination indices, seedling growth and crop establishment. Since priming with plain water and to have pregerminated seeds is simple and cheap method, which can increase germination percentage and homogeneity of seedling emergence under water stress conditions and it can be easily used by farmers. Interactive effect of different seed priming techniques along with seeding at sub optimal soil moisture level proved to be an efficient technique for enhancing water productivity of wheat crop.

Rice-wheat cropping system, intensively followed in Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), played a prominent role in fulfilling the food grains demand of the increasing population of South Asia. In northern Indian plains, some practices such as intensive rice cultivation with traditional method for long-term have been associated with severe deterioration of natural resources, declining factor productivity, multiple nutrients deficiencies, depleting groundwater, labour scarcity and higher cost of cultivation, putting the agricultural sustainability in question. Varietal development, soil and water management, and adoption of resource conservation technologies in rice cultivation are the key interventions areas to address these challenges. The cultivation of lesser water requiring crops, replacing rice in light-textured soil and rainfed condition, should be encouraged through policy interventions. Direct seeding of short duration, high-yielding and stress tolerant rice varieties with water conservation technologies can be a successful approach to improve the input use efficiency in rice cultivation under medium-heavy-textured soils. Moreover, integrated approach of suitable cultivars for conservation agriculture, mechanized transplanting on zero-tilled/unpuddled field and need-based application of water, fertilizer and chemicals might be a successful approach for sustainable rice production system in the current scenario. In this review study, various challenges in productivity and sustainability of rice cultivation system and possible alternatives and solutions to overcome such challenges are discussed in details.

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The intercropping of legumes with cereals help to achieve sustainable intensification by their mutual complementarity at efficiently using radiation, nutrients, etc. Several studies indicated such beneficial effects on the other component crop however, little research has been conducted to quantify their effects on the subsequent crop in a cropping system. In this study, the effect of the legume intercropping on the entire cropping system, particularly the maize + legume-wheat system was studied. Four legumes intercropped to maize followed by wheat crop were studied for intensification measures such as wheat equivalent yield (WEY), land equivalent ratio (LER), sustainable value index (SVI), and economic returns. N saving effect of legumes on the subsequent wheat crop was quantified with two N levels. Maize + cowpea-wheat combination was the most productive and economic intercrop combination (LER = 1.71, SVI = 0.96) with an increase in net economic return (43.63%) with a B:C ratio of 1.94. An additional 25% N (37.5 kg ha−1) was saved in the wheat crop when the legume intercropping was undertaken with maize. The results suggest that intercropping is the key to diversification and reduces the risk of crop failures by enhancing land-use efficiency, soil fertility, and economic returns under weather vagaries. This will be beneficial to small and marginal farmers of many countries.

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