Influence of tillage practices and crop diversification on productivity and soil health in maize (Zea mays)/soybean (Glycine max) based cropping systems

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at New Delhi during 2010–12 to find-out the influence of tillage practices and cropping systems on crop productivity and soil health in maize (Zea mays L.)/soybean (Glycine max L.) based cropping systems. Results revealed that minimum tillage with crop residue mulch improved the yield of component crops by 5–22% as well as system productivity by 5.4–7.1% in current study. The effect of minimum tillage on crop yields was more pronounced among summer season crops followed by winter season crops. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and available NPK as well as S exhibited marked improvement due to minimum tillage over conventional tillage. Soil pH and soil physical properties revealed favourable effects of minimum tillage over initial status. On an average, maize/soybean grown after summer greengram observed about 10–12% increase in yield than grown after spring sunflower. Winter season wheat, coriander, fenugreek, vegetable pea and potato exhibited 10.4, 6.9, 3.8, 6 and 11% higher yield after soybean compared to their respective yields after maize. Yield of spring sunflower in soybean– vegetable pea–sunflower system was 18 and 11% higher than its yield in maize–potato–sunflower and maize– vegetable pea–sunflower systems, respectively. The productivity of soybean based cropping systems was higher than that of maize based systems. With intervention of vegetable pea and potato during winter and sunflower during spring; the productivity of maize/soybean–vegetable pea/potato–sunflower systems was enhanced by 128% over maize/soybean–wheat–greengram systems. Similarly, replacement of wheat with coriander in maize/soybean–wheat– greengram system also improved the system productivity markedly. Diversified soybean–fenugreek/wheat/coriander– greengram systems also led to a marked improvement in SOC over initial status. Intervention of legumes also improved the available N, while cropping systems without non–legumes showed a decline in available N over initial status.