Soil quality management through conservation agriculture and other practices for higher productivity in rainfed agriculture amidst climate change

Abstract

The soils in the rainfed region are at the verge of degradation by virtue of several regions. The major reasons which degrade soil quality and deteriorate its productive capacity could be: i) washing away of topsoil and organic matter associated with clay size fractions due to water erosion, ii) intensive deep tillage and inversion tillage with moldboard and disc plough resulting in a) fast decomposition of remnants of crop residues which is catalyzed by high temperature, b) breaking of stable soil aggregates and aggravating the process of oxidation of entrapped organic C and c) disturbance to the habitat of soil microflora and fauna and loss in microbial diversity, iii) less use of fertilizers and widening of plant nutrients removal-use gap , iv) mining and other commercial activities such as use of top soil for other than agricultural purpose, v) mono cropping without following any suitable rotation, vi) nutrient imbalance caused due to disproportionate use of primary, secondary and micronutrients, vii) no or low use of organic manures and poor recycling of farm based crop residues viii) no or low green manuring ix) poor nutrient use efficiency x) indiscriminate use of other agricultural inputs such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, etc., , xi) water logging, salinity and alkalinity and acid soils.As a result of several above-mentioned reasons, soils encounter diversity of constraints broadly on account of physical, chemical and biological soil health and ultimately low productivity. Amidst climatic variation and climatic change, there are likelihoods of occurring more degradation of soil resource. Under such situation, conservation agriculture and other resource conservation practices have proved quite effectivein protecting thesoil fromfurther degradation andin restoration of soil quality. This review paper deals withdifferent aspectsof soil quality management through conservation agriculture and other resource conservation techniques.