Assessing soil properties and nutrient availability under conservation agriculture practices in a reclaimed sodic soil in cereal-based systems of North-West India

H S Jat,Ashim Datta,P C Sharma,Virender Kumar,A K Yadav,Madhu Choudhary,Vishu Choudhary,M K Gathala,D K Sharma,M L Jat,N P S Yaduvanshi,Gurbachan Singh,A Mcdonald

doi:10.1080/03650340.2017.1359415

Abstract

ABSTRACTSoil quality degradation associated with resources scarcity is the major concern for the sustainability of conventional rice-wheat system in South Asia. Replacement of conventional management practices with conservation agriculture (CA) is required to improve soil quality. A field experiment was conducted to assess the effect of CA on soil physical (bulk density, penetration resistance, infiltration) and chemical (N, P, K, S, micronutrients) properties after 4 years in North-West India. There were four scenarios (Sc) namely conventional rice-wheat cropping system (Sc1); partial CA-based rice-wheat-mungbean system (RWMS) (Sc2); CA-based RWMS (Sc3); and CA-based maize-wheat-mungbean (Sc4) system. Sc2 (1.52 Mg m−3) showed significantly lower soil bulk density (BD). In Sc3 and Sc4, soil penetration resistance (SPR) was reduced and infiltration was improved compared to Sc1. Soil organic C was significantly higher in Sc4 than Sc1. Available N was 33% and 68% higher at 0–15 cm depth in Sc3 and Sc4, respectively, than Sc1. DTPA extractable Zn and Mn were significantly higher under Sc3 and Sc4 compared to Sc1. Omission study showed 30% saving in N and 50% in K in wheat after four years. Therefore, CA improved soil properties and nutrient availability and have potential to reduce external fertilizer inputs in long run.

Highlights

Rice-wheat is a major cropping sequence in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of South Asia; covering over 13.5 million ha in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan and source of livelihood to millions of people (Ladha et al 2000; Timsina and Connor 2001)
The problems of post Green Revolution due to intensive farming, imbalance use of fertilizers and faulty irrigation practices cause soil degradation and depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC), water resources and environment pollution leading to stagnation or decline in yields of the rice-wheat cropping
A lower volume of macropores and a higher volume of medium sized pores are the possible reasons for higher soil water content under conservation agriculture (CA)-based scenarios compared to conventional practice (Malecka et al 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Rice-wheat is a major cropping sequence in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of South Asia; covering over 13.5 million ha in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan and source of livelihood to millions of people (Ladha et al 2000; Timsina and Connor 2001). Cultivation of conventional puddled rice has led to over-exploitation of groundwater leading to an alarming fall of water table in many parts of North-western India (Humphreys et al 2010). This necessitates for immediate solution through adoption of best management practices for improving soil and environment quality, and maintaining ecosystem services. As an alternative to conventional practices, CA have shown its effectiveness in sustaining and improving productivity of RWCS at the same time preserving scarce natural resources such as energy, labour, time, water and environment quality (Dikgwatlhe et al 2014). As an alternative to conventional practices, CA have shown its effectiveness in sustaining and improving productivity of RWCS at the same time preserving scarce natural resources such as energy, labour, time, water and environment quality (Dikgwatlhe et al 2014). Thierfelder and Wall (2009) showed the efficiency of CA systems in slowing down the soil physical, chemical and biological quality degradation while reducing cost of production

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