Long-Term Impact of Different Straw Management Practices on Carbon Fractions and Biological Properties under Rice–Wheat System

Abstract

Intensive agriculture has led to generation of a vast volume of agri-residue, prompting a reliance on conservation tillage techniques for prudent management. However, to ascertain the long-term impacts of these practices, the interrelation with the carbon fractions and the biological properties of the soil must be identified. Therefore, in a long-term experiment, five different treatments involving the incorporation of paddy straw as mulch or through disc harrow and farmer practice, including the partial burning of rice straw, were evaluated. After the harvesting of the wheat crop, soil samples collected from 3 different depths (0–15, 15–30 and 30–45 cm) were analyzed for various attributes critical to assessing soil health. Crop residue retention in both seasons (T4) improved carbon fractions, soil microflora viable cell counts and enzyme activities. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a positive interaction among the organic carbon, bacterial counts and soil enzyme activities. Thus, a positive impact of conservation tillage techniques involving a minimal disturbance was recorded as improvement in the soil properties, build-up of organic carbon, and wheat productivity in rice–wheat cropping systems.

Influence of tillage and residue management practices on productivity, sustainability, and soil biological properties of rice-barley cropping systems in indo-gangetic plain of India

“…As a result of the long-term crop residue management techniques, the soil's microbial population and biomass C or N significantly increased, giving energy and an ideal environment for the development of soil enzymes (Xomphoutheb et al, 2020 ). In this study, alkaline phosphatase enzymes were found high in residue-incorporated treatments, which is in accordance with earlier studies (Gupta et al, 2022 ; Sharma et al, 2022a ). However, NR is the enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of to in soil and also represents nitrogen immobilization (Canfield et al, 2010 ; Grzyb et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Furthermore, the direct seeding of Rabi crop with these farm machineries consumes less fuel compared to the conventional tillage system (Pratibha et al, 2015 ). The in-situ surface retention of crop residues as full or anchored also boosts soil health by improving soil physical properties (Das et al, 2021 ; Saurabh et al, 2021 ), soil organic carbon, and labile carbon fractions (Liu et al, 2013 ; Gupta et al, 2022 ); increasing moisture retention; regulating temperature (Fu et al, 2021 ); enhancing nutrient availability (Moharana et al, 2012 ) and root absorption; suppressing weeds (Nikolić et al, 2021 ); decreasing salinity (Prajapat et al, 2020 ); encouraging soil biological activity (Singh et al, 2018 ); and controlling crop pests and diseases (El-Shater and Yigezu, 2021 ). Moreover, crop diversification reduces pressure in current agriculture and maintains or even enhances soil microbial abundance as crop diversification has shown benefits for soil macro- and microorganisms, while maintaining crop yields (Baldwin-Kordick et al, 2022 ; Morugán-Coronado et al, 2022 ; Rai et al, 2022 ).…”

Wheat Growth and Yield in the Rice -Wheat Cropping System: Impact of Crop Establishment Techniques, Sowing Schedule and Nitrogen management

“…Iqbal et al, 2017). Similar ndings were observed byGupta et al, 2024. With a mean value of 10.9 & 11.3 cm, the timely planting date of November 20th demonstrated superiority in spike length during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 growing seasons than the other two sowing dates.…”

Soil type and integrated nitrogen nutrient-rice straw residue management techniques affect soil microbes, enzyme activities and yield of wheat crop

“…Therefore, these studies provide insights on changes in the soil physical and chemical properties in response to agri-residue incorporation or retention particularly regarding the soil organic carbon contents and the amount of soil available nutrient concentrations for uptake by the plants [ 4 ]. The changes in the soil physical and chemical properties get reciprocated as altered soil biotic components [ 5 , 6 ]. Organic matter amendments cause changes in the soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) leading to variation in the soil buffering capacity and thus the soil microbial communities are affected [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…Apart from the grain yield benefits, in a long-term straw incorporation experiment the soil microbial biota and enzyme activities were also improved in the straw retention in zero tillage with happy seeder treatment [ 5 ]. Therefore, the alterations in the soil physical and chemical attributes are translated in variation in the soil microbial and associated soil enzymatic activities in both the short-as well as long-term agri-residue incorporation studies.…”