Abstract
Stagnating yield and declining input use efficiency in irrigated wheat of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) coupled with diminishing availability of water for agriculture is a major concern of food security in South Asia. The objective of our study was to establish an understanding of how wheat yield and input use efficiency can be improved and how land leveling and crop establishment practices can be modified to be more efficient in water use through layering of precision-conservation crop management techniques. The “precision land leveling with raised bed” planting can be used to improve crop yield, water and nutrient use efficiency over the existing “traditional land leveling with flat” planting practices. We conducted a field experiment during 2002-2004 at Modipuram, India to quantify the benefits of alternate land leveling (precision land leveling) and crop establishment (furrow irrigated raised bed planting) techniques alone or in combination (layering precision-conservation) in terms of crop yield, water savings, and nutrient use efficiency of wheat production in IGP. The wheat yield was about 16.6% higher with nearly 50% less irrigation water with layering precision land leveling and raised bed planting compared to traditional practices (traditional land leveling with flat planting). The agronomic (AE) and uptake efficiency (UE) of N, P and K were significantly improved under precision land leveling with raised bed planting technique compared to other practices.
Highlights
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most widely grown and consumed food crop and is the staple food for 35% of the world population [1]
The wheat yield was about 16.6% higher with nearly 50% less irrigation water with layering precision land leveling and raised bed planting compared to traditional practices
The longer spikes were recorded with precision land leveling and raised bed planting techniques
Summary
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is the most widely grown and consumed food crop and is the staple food for 35% of the world population [1]. To meet the growing wheat demand, the global production need an 1.6% to 2.6% annual growth rate, which can be mainly achieved through improvement in input use efficiency [1]. In the IndoGangetic Plains (IGP), ground water is being depleted 13 to 17 km3·yr–1 (Mathew Rodell et al 2009) coupled with diminishing factor productivity [3], an accelerated growth in crop productivity needs an enhanced resource use efficiency to meet the future wheat demand in the region. The improvement of input use efficiency in wheat cropping systems can be achieved through two main strategies: by adopting precise and more efficient crop management practices and germplasm [4]. This paper will focus on improving input use efficiency (of water & nutrients) through layering precision-conservation agriculture based crop management approaches
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