India is the fourth largest oilseed economy in the world. Among the seven edible oilseeds cultivated in India, rapeseed-mustard contributes 28.6% in the total oilseeds production and ranks second after groundnut sharing 27.8% in the India’s oilseed economy. The mustard growing areas in India are experiencing the vast diversity in the agro climatic conditions and different species of rapeseed-mustard are grown in some or other part of the country. Under marginal resource situation, cultivation of rapeseed-mustard becomes less remunerative to the farmers. This results in a big gap between requirement and production of mustard in India. Therefore site-specific nutrient management through soil-test recommendation based should be adopted to improve upon the existing yield levels obtained at farmers field. Effective management of natural resources, integrated approach to plant-water, nutrient and pest management and extension of rapeseed-mustard cultivation to newer areas under different cropping systems will play a key role in further increasing and stabilizing the productivity and production of rapeseed-mustard. The paper reviews the advances in proper land and seedbed preparation, optimum seed and sowing, planting technique, crop geometry, plant canopy, appropriate cropping system, integrated nutrient management and so forth to meet the ever growing demand of oil in the country and to realize the goal of production of 24 million tonnes of oilseed by 2020 AD through these advanced management techniques.

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Rice cultivation always remains significant for food and livelihood security. The predictions of increasing water deficiency under a changing climate and escalating labor shortages in agriculture have brought a paradigm swing in rice cultivation from conventionally flooded transplanting to direct-seeded rice (DSR). DSR cultivation can potentially address the concerns of diminishing natural resources and mounting production costs in the establishment of transplanted rice. The transition towards DSR saves water, reduces duration to maturity as well as labor required, and reduces negative environmental footprints. Despite all these recompenses, the potential yield losses through enormous weed menaces under DSR remains a challenge and may reduce yield by up to 50%. In this review, we examine the extent of weed infestation, weed shift and the losses in dry DSR (DDSR). Various regional and global scientific efforts made under DDSR have been assessed in the present and the smart weed-management strategies suggested can be adopted after scrutiny. Integration of different weed management approaches, namely prevention, cultural, mechanical, and chemical, have been discussed, which can pave the way for worldwide adoption of DDSR, especially in South Asia. In Asia, 22% of the acreage of total rice cultivation is under DSR and the region-specific integration of these weed-management approaches might reduce herbicide use in these areas by up to 50%.