A global analysis of alternative tillage and crop establishment practices for economically and environmentally efficient rice production

Debashis Chakraborty,Mangi Lal Jat,Sudhir Yadav,Mahesh Kumar Gathala,Dharamvir Singh Rana,Anitha Raman,Jagdish Kumar Ladha,Mugadoli S Ramesha,Adusumilli Narayana Rao

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09742-9

Abstract

Alternative tillage and rice establishment options should aim at less water and labor to produce similar or improved yields compared with traditional puddled-transplanted rice cultivation. The relative performance of these practices in terms of yield, water input, and economics varies across rice-growing regions. A global meta and mixed model analysis was performed, using a dataset involving 323 on-station and 9 on-farm studies (a total of 3878 paired data), to evaluate the yield, water input, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost and net return with five major tillage/crop establishment options. Shifting from transplanting to direct-seeding was advantageous but the change from conventional to zero or reduced tillage reduced yields. Direct-seeded rice under wet tillage was the best alternative with yield advantages of 1.3–4.7% (p < 0.05) and higher net economic return of 13% (p < 0.05), accompanied by savings of water by 15% (p < 0.05) and a reduction in cost by 2.4–8.8%. Direct-seeding under zero tillage was another potential alternative with high savings in water input and cost of cultivation, with no yield penalty. The alternative practices reduced methane emissions but increased nitrous oxide emissions. Soil texture plays a key role in relative yield advantages, and therefore refinement of the practice to suit a specific agro-ecosystem is needed.

Highlights

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world
Rice yield declined when both conventional tillage (CT) and TPR were substituted by reduced tillage (RT) or zero tillage (ZT) and direct-seeded rice (DSR) (Fig. 1a,b)
The yields of RT-UPTPR(wet), RT-DSR(dry), and ZT-DSR(dry) did not differ from each other but, compared with the yield of CT-TPR(wet), three options incurred yield losses ranging from 7.0% to 7.4% according to the Tillage and crop establishment (CE) options Overall CT-DSR(wet) CT-DSR(dry) RT-UPTPR(wet) RT/ZT-DSR(dry)

Summary

Introduction

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world. It is a staple for more than half of the global population, with 11% of cultivated land[1]. A seasonally flooded paddy field is a major source of methane (10–13% of anthropogenic methane in the atmosphere) and contributes significantly to global GHG emissions from agriculture[24] These factors demand a major shift from puddled transplanting to alternative methods of establishing rice. Hundreds of individual on-station and on-farm trials have compared yields and other performance parameters of various tillage/rice establishment options, but an attempt to synthesize information on a global scale is critically lacking Such a synthesis is essential to (a) prioritize research and development issues, including precise technology targeting, and (b) articulate policy and institutional measures to facilitate large-scale adoption. Performance parameters considered in the meta-analysis and the mixed model analysis included (a) grain yield, (b) water input, (c) GHG emissions, and (d) cost of cultivation and net economic returns

Methods

Results

Conclusion