Effects of Resource Conservation Practices on Productivity, Profitability and Energy Budgeting in Maize–Wheat Cropping System of Indian Sub-Himalayas

Abstract

Resource conservation issues have drawn the attention of scientists to devise innovative tillage and crop establishment techniques for higher productivity in small holder farming systems in the tropics but relatively less attention has been given in rainfed sloping lands of the Indian sub-Himalayan (sub-temperate) regions. To investigate these issues, an experiment was conducted on resource conservation practices under rainfed conditions for 5 years (June 2007-May 2012) at Dehradun, Uttarakhand in the Indian Himalayan region. Four treatments, 1. 100:60:40 kg N:P 2 O 5 :K 2 O ? conventional tillage (CT) ? chemical weeding ? PANICUM vegetation strip (T 1 ); 2. FYM (5 t ha -1 ) ? minimum tillage (MT) ? 1 weed mulch (30 DAS) @ 0.52 t ha -1 ? PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T 2 ); 3. FYM (5 t ha -1 ) ? vermi-compost (1.0 t ha -1 ) ? MT ? 2 weed mulch (25 and 50 DAS) @ 1.47 t ha -1 ? PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T 3 ) and 4. FYM (5 t ha -1 ) ? vermi-compost (1.0 t ha -1 ) ? poultry manure (2.5 t ha -1 ) ? MT ? 3 weed mulch (20, 40 and 60 DAS) @ 2.18 t ha -1 ? PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T 4 ). The results showed that resource conservation treatments (T 4 , T 3 and T 2 ) had significant (P B 0.05) multiple benefits as compared to traditional agriculture treatments (T 1 ). T 1 gives the highest yield of maize whereas T 4 gives highest yield of wheat. For the maize-wheat cropping system, mean wheat equivalent yield (WEY) was *16 % higher in T 4 than T 1 . Mean runoff was *30 % lesser and mean soil loss was *34 % lesser in T 4 as compared with T 1 . Similarly, mean soil moisture conservation for rainfed wheat was *31 % higher in T 4 than T 1 . Mean carbon retention potential increased by *53 % which subsequently increased mean soil quality index (SQI) by *25 %. Mean energy productivity increased by *70 % and mean energy intensiveness decreased by *56 % in T 4 than T 1 . Treatment T 1 (2,560 MJ -1 ) emerged to be the most energy intensive system as compared to T 4 (1,113 MJ Rs. -1 ). On an average, T 4 had 7 % higher net returns than T 1 and in terms of net returns per tonne of soil loss, T 4 was the best treatment (Rs. 4,907). Therefore, resource conservation system (PALMAROSA as a vegetation strip along with organic amendments, FYM, vermicompost, poultry manure and weed mulch under minimum tillage) had significant positive impact on yield, resource conservation and energy saving and may be introduced as a substitute of conventional system in the Indian sub-Himalayas and under similar climatic and edaphic conditions.

Effects of controlled‐release potassium fertilizer on available potassium, photosynthetic performance, and yield of cotton

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Advanced technological adaptations can improve the energy-cum-carbon-efficiency of diverse rice production systems

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