Conservation agriculture based integrated crop management sustains productivity and economic profitability along with soil properties of the maize-wheat rotation

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted to evaluate eight different integrated crop management (ICM) modules for 5 years in a maize-wheat rotation (MWR); wherein, ICM1&2-ˈbusiness-as-usualˈ (conventional flatbed maize and wheat, ICM3&4-conventional raised bed (CTRB) maize and wheat without residues, ICM5&6-conservation agriculture (CA)-based zero-till (ZT) flatbed maize and wheat with the residues, and ICM7&8- CA-based ZT raised bed maize and wheat with the residues. Results indicated that the ICM7&8 produced significantly (p < 0.05) the highest maize grain yield (5 years av.) which was 7.8–21.3% greater than the ICM1-6. However, across years, the ICM5-8 gave a statistically similar wheat grain yield and was 8.4–11.5% greater than the ICM1-4. Similarly, the CA-based residue retained ICM5-8 modules had given 9.5–14.3% (5 years av.) greater system yields in terms of maize grain equivalents (MGEY) over the residue removed CT-based ICM1&4. System water productivity (SWP) was the highest with ICM5-8, being 10.3–17.8% higher than the ICM1-4. Nevertheless, the highest water use (TWU) was recorded in the CT flatbed (ICM1&2), ~ 7% more than the raised bed and ZT planted crops with or without the residues (ICM4-8). Furthermore, the ICM1-4 had produced 9.54% greater variable production costs compared to the ICM5-8, whereas, the ICM5-8 gave 24.3–27.4% additional returns than the ICM1-4. Also, different ICM modules caused significant (p < 0.05) impacts on the soil properties, such as organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), dehydrogenase (SDH), alkaline phosphatase (SAP), and urease (URE) activities. In 0.0–0.15 m soil profile, residue retained CA-based (ICM5-8) modules registered a 7.1–14.3% greater SOC and 10.2–17.3% SMBC than the ICM1-4. The sustainable yield index (SYI) of MWR was 13.4–18.6% greater under the ICM7&8 compared to the ICM1-4. Hence, this study concludes that the adoption of the CA-based residue retained ICMs in the MWR could sustain the crop yields, enhance farm profits, save water and improve soil properties of the north-western plans of India.

Variations in Soil Nitrogen Availability and Crop Yields under a Three-Year Annual Wheat and Maize Rotation in a Fluvo-Aquic Soil

“…The sustainable yield index (SYI) [ 65 , 66 ] and coefficient of variation (CV) [ 67 ] were used to evaluate yield sustainability and yield stability. The higher the SYI value, the better the yield sustainability; the lower the CV value, the better the yield stability: in which is the average yield (kg hm −2 ), σ is the standard deviation (kg hm −2 ), and Y max is the highest yield (kg hm −2 ).…”

Double zero-tillage and foliar-P nutrition coupled with bio-inoculants enhance physiological photosynthetic characteristics and resilience to nutritional and environmental stresses in maize–wheat rotation

“…CA aims to maximize agricultural yields and farm incomes while minimizing the negative environmental effects of traditional agriculture ( Parihar et al, 2016 ). Zero-tillage is essential nowadays due to reduction in the cost of cultivation, greater retention of soil moisture, decreased energy consumption, increased farm revenues, improved soil biophysical and chemical characteristics, carbon sequestration, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and comprehensive natural resource conservation ( Paul et al, 2014 ; Jakhar et al, 2018 ; Varatharajan et al, 2019b ; Pooniya et al, 2022 ). MWCS is India’s 3rd largest cropping system, covering ∼1.8 million ha and accounting for 3% of the country’s total food production ( Pooniya et al, 2015 ).…”

“…As a result, each of these crops requires effective fertilizer management strategies in order to reach their full yield potential. The MWCS is recently being followed in the Indo-Gangetic plains region (IGPR), which is already facing numerous challenges, such as natural resource degradation, declining agricultural productivity, and environmental concerns ( Paul et al, 2014 ; Pooniya et al, 2017 , 2022 ).…”

Integrated management enhances crop physiology and final yield in maize intercropped with blackgram in semiarid South Asia

“…(salinisation/alkalisation), low resource-use efficiencies, water table decline and higher associated cost and energy in water extraction (Kumar et al, 2021(Kumar et al, , 2022Harish et al, 2022), besides substantial weed management costs and the emergence of weed resistance (Dass et al, 2017;Choudhary et al, 2021), severe incidence of pests, diseases and minor pest resurgence, climatic vulnerabilities like heat/cold waves, terminal drought stress and other numerous production vulnerabilities that collectively threaten the sustainability of RWCS in IGPR (Paul et al, 2014;Bhatt et al, 2016;Pooniya et al, 2018Pooniya et al, , 2022. To overcome these vulnerabilities, one strategy could be to replace rice with maize, legumes and other underutilised crops that require less water and other resources (Choudhary et al, , 2020Harish et al, 2021Harish et al, , 2022Singh et al, 2021Singh et al, , 2022aPooniya et al, 2022); and hence, diversify the system for better productivity, profitability and resource use.…”

“…The application of ICM techniques helps in raising RUE and system productivity (Choudhary et al, 2020). Earlier reports in major cropping systems of India like RWCS, maize-wheat cropping system (MWCS), soybean-wheat under ICM indicated that CA-based treatments recorded higher crop yields due to improved crop physiological and photosynthetic characteristics, modulation of microclimate and resilience to environmental stresses, enhanced soil fertility and favourable soil microbiome (Choudhary et al, , 2020Varatharajan et al, 2019a;Singh et al, 2020Singh et al, , 2021Singh et al, , 2022aBiswakarma et al, 2021;Pooniya et al, 2022). Our extensive literature review revealed that the majority of earlier studies focused on individual components of crop management, i.e., crop establishment, tillage, nutrient, weed, water, energy management, etc.…”