Effects of Long-Term (7 Years) Adoption of Conservation Agriculture and Nutrient Management Practices on the Soil Properties, System Crop and Water Productivity and Farm Economics of a Maize–Chickpea Rotation 

Abstract

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. The CA-based crop establishment practices (CEP) along with adequate fertilizer inputs in the diversified maize-chickpea rotation (MCR) could be a profitable choice to sustain the crop production of Indo-Gangetic plains in the posterity. Therefore, a seven years' field experiment consisting of three CEP viz., zero till flatbed (ZTFB), permanent beds (PNB), conventional system (CT) along with the three nutrient management practices; nutrient expert assisted: site-specific nutrient management (NE®), recommended fertilization (RDF), and farmers’ fertilizer practice (FFP), was carried out from 2013–2020 in a sandy loam soil of the north-western Indo-Gangetic plains. Seven years’ mean maize grain yield under the ZTFB (4.34 Mg ha-1) and PNB (4.37 Mg ha-1) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the CT (3.79 Mg ha-1). The NE® and RDF had 25.7% and 22.3% greater maize grain yield than the FFP, respectively. Similarly, ZTFB and PNB had 12.2% and 21.5% greater chickpea seed yield, respectively over the CT. The NE® and RDF gave 12.1% and 8.4% higher chickpea seed yield over the FFP, respectively. The CA-based CEP (ZTFB / PNB) produced 13.9–17.6% (seven years’ mean) higher maize grain equivalent yield (MGEY) compared to the CT, while NE® and RDF had 10.7–20% higher MGEY than the FFP. Furthermore, the PNB and ZTFB gave 28.8% and 24% additional net returns than the CT, while NE® and RDF had 22.8% and 17.4% greater returns, respectively over the FFP. The mean data showed that PNB had 7.5% and 30.8% greater system water productivity (SWP) than the ZTFB and CT, the NE® and RDF had 20% and 14% greater SWP than the FFP, respectively. After harvest of the 7th year maize, the PNB and ZTFB had 2.3–4.1% (0.0-0.20 m soil layers) lower bulk density (ρb) than the CT, however NE® and RDF had 1–1.9% lower ρb compared to the FFP. The CEP had a significant (p<0.05) impact on the soil organic carbon (OC) in 0.0-0.20 m soil layers but it remained unaffected due to the nutrient management beyond 0.10 m soil depth. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) increased by 8–19% (0.0-0.50 m soil layers) in the ZTFB / PNB over the CT, and by 7.6–11.0% in the NE® / RDF over FFP. The sustainability yield index (SYI) was also greater under the CA-based CEP and with the NE® or RDF compared to the CT practices. Hence, the present study suggests that the CA-based CEP coupled with the NE® or RDF could enhance the yields, farm profits, soil properties of the maize-chickpea rotation, thereby, could sustain the production in long-run.

Irrigation and conservation agricultural practices improve crop yield, water productivity and energetics of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in Vertisols of central India

“…This could be explained by the fact that the lack of field preparation led to a decrease in the energy consumption of the CA plots. Most previous research has identified a medium-to long-term impact of conservation tillage strategies on soil quality and crop yield (Pooniya et al, 2020).…”