Abstract
<p>Crop rotation can be used as an effective technique for managing salt-affected soils, however selection of suitable crop rotation at farmer field is very intricate decision which depends on expected net revenue, available resources and preserving the soil quality. In this perspective a study was conducted to evaluate a suitable crop rotation scheme for salt affected soils in term of economic value and improving the soil health. Seven crop rotation used were; T<sub>1</sub> = Wheat-Rice, T<sub>2</sub> = Wheat-Sesamum, T<sub>3</sub> = Ispagol-Rice, T<sub>4</sub> = Ispagol-Qulfa, T<sub>5</sub> = Tukhum-e-blangoo-Qulfa, T<sub>6</sub> = Ajwain-Niazboo, T<sub>7</sub> = Saunf-Podina. A moderately salt affected field {pH<sub>s </sub>= 8.65, EC<sub>e</sub> = 5.20 dS m<sup>-1</sup>, SAR = 27.73 (mmol l<sup>-1</sup>)<sup>1/2</sup>} was selected. The experimental design was randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications having plot size of 4 m x 6 m. Results of two years study showed that maximum grain yield was recorded by rice wheat rotation and maximum net income (208352 Rs. ha<sup>−1</sup>) and BCR (4.72) was also observed in rice-wheat crop rotation over all other crop rotations. With respect to ameliorative affect, rice- wheat rotation also showed a significant positive impact on chemical properties of salt affected soil. Therefore, it is suggested that rice wheat crop rotation is the most suitable and economically attractive cropping scheme in salt affected soil which has potential to provide better long-term income to farmers, improve soil health and combat soil deterioration caused by salinity.</p>
Highlights
A key challenge of 21st century agriculture is to provide the food, fiber and fuel for an expanding population while preserving the soil fertility and providing adequate farm profitability to farmers (Robertson and Swinton, 2005)
Economic value data showed that maximum economic return of Rs. 88542 ha–1 was achieved by rice crop followed by qulfa crop, difference between to crop was not large enough to reach a level of significance (p < 0.05)
Among all the rotation ricewheat crop rotation showed a minimum value (8.36) for soil pH followed by ispagol-rice rotation with pH value of
Summary
A key challenge of 21st century agriculture is to provide the food, fiber and fuel for an expanding population while preserving the soil fertility and providing adequate farm profitability to farmers (Robertson and Swinton, 2005). One of the main issues influencing crop production choices by farmers is the expected market price of selected commodity and the resulting estimated net revenue, in addition to the rela-. When good quality water supplies are limited a suitable crop rotation is the only means for managing salt-affected soils and maintaining crop yields (Kaur et al, 2007). Crop rotation resulted in several improvements, in soil physical and chemical properties and is suggested for salt affected soil, especially when crops with varying degrees of salinity tolerance are used (Lacerda et al, 2011). Keeping the all above facts in consideration the work presented in this paper was designed to evaluate a suitable crop rotation scheme for salt affected soils which will benefit the overall productivity and profitably of the farm and improve the soil health. Collected data was subjected to analysis of variance following the method of Steel et al (1997) to sort out significant differences among treatments at 5 % probability level
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