Abstract
Over centuries and even today, traditional farming practices are well performed without any ecological degradation. However, management practice such as conservative tillage combined with nutrient and residue could increase the crop production as well as soil fertility. A three-year replicated study was conducted to assess the effects of agronomic modification of traditional farming practices on productivity and sustainability of rice (wet season)–rice (dry season) system (RRS). The replacement of farmers practice (T2) with conservation effective tillage (no-till (NT)) and integrated nutrient management (INM) practice along with 30% residue retention (T5) enhanced the straw, root and biomass yield of both wet season rice (WR), dry season rice (DR) and system as a whole over T2. Treatment T5 recorded significantly lower soil bulk density (ρb) and higher pH than the T2 after three years of the experiment. Further, treatment T5 increased total soil organic carbon (2.8%), total soil organic carbon stock (2.8%), carbon sequestration rate (336.5 kg ha−1 year−1), cumulative carbon stock (142.9%) and carbon retention efficiency (141.0%) over T2 of 0–20 cm depth after three year. The soil microbial biomass carbon concentration was significantly the highest under T5. Similarly, the dehydrogenase activity was the maximum under T5. Adoption of conservation tillage and nutrient management practice involving NT and INM along with residue retention can enhance the system productivity, and C and N sequestration in paddy soils is thereby contributing to the sustainability of the RRS.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the world’s most important food crops
The rice straw is not considered as good quality feed for cattle, it is still used as dry fodder for animals in North Eastern Region (NER), especially during the lean season
Our results demonstrated that the cultivation of rice (dry season) system (RRS) under Reduce tillage (RT)/NT system with integrated nutrient management (INM) and retention of 30% rice residue sequestrated three times more total organic soil carbon (TOC) in soil systems than that in soil under FP
Summary
As a major rice producer, alone contributes 30% of total area and 22% of the total production of the world [1,2]. Rice is a staple food of the people in this region and cultivated on about 3.5 M ha, which accounts almost 8% area and 6.5% of the country’s rice production [1]. Because of high water table and seepage from surrounding hills during winter, cultivation of crops other than rice is not feasible in this region [3,6]. The major concern is that, despite favorable edaphic and climatic conditions, the rice productivity in the region hardly exceeds 2 Mg ha−1, compared to the national average of 2.8 Mg ha−1 in India and 4.42 Mg ha−1 in neighboring Bangladesh [7]
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