Precision Land Leveling Research Articles

Shaping India's climate future: A perspective on harnessing carbon credits from agriculture

Human activities are responsible for emitting greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to global warming and climate change. As the world's second-largest producer of staple food and the third-largest emitter of GHGs, India has been witnessing an increase in demand for food and energy, resulting in increased emissions. Thus, to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2070, India must focus urgently on climate change mitigation. Its agriculture sector has the potential to transition from being a net emitter to a net absorber of GHGs by adopting sustainable farming practices such as zero tillage, laser-assisted precision land leveling, direct seeding of rice, intercropping, biochar application, use of solar energy, and more efficient management of irrigation water, soil nutrients, livestock feed, and manure. To incentivize climate consciousness, a voluntary carbon credit trading system could be utilized in agriculture, supported by a measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification platform. This system would also bring about social, environmental, and financial co-benefits for its stakeholders. Specifically, the agriculture sector could substantially reduce the country's annual emissions by 84% from 2019 to 2070. But to realize their potential, the carbon markets must overcome the limitations currently set by policy, economic, cultural, and biophysical factors.

Effect of Land Ploughing Methods and Leveling Techniques on Wheat Production in the Upper Terraces of the Northern State - Sudan

Precision land leveling must be treated as a precursor technology for improving crop yield, enhancing input-use efficiency and ensuring long-term sustainability of the resources. A field experiment was conducted in Dongola Agricultural Research Farm, Northern State, for two successive seasons to investigate the effect of three type of ploughing; heavy disc harrow (H1), disc plough (H2) and no-ploughing (H3), and three land leveling techniques, Laser (L), Scraper (S) and traditional (T),on wheat production. The experiment was arranged in a strip split plot design and the treatments were replicated three times.
 The results indicated that effective field capacity, fuel consumption, and slippage were significantly affected by ploughing method. Laser land leveling recorded the highest fuel consumption (16.3 L/hr), and the lowest field efficiency (55%). while the heavy disc harrow recorded the highest effective field capacity (0.98 ha/hr), field efficiency (71.2%) and wheel slippage (8.1%). The soil moisture content (db %) was increased with time and depth. The highest mean soil moisture content was obtained with the laser land leveling and heavy disc harrow treatment at 75-100cm soil depth as 24.82%. The results revealed that the highest average grain yield (4.63 ton/ha) and infiltration rate (31cm/hr) were also recorded by the laser land leveling and heavy disc harrow. The treatments showed significant differences at the 5% level between the treatments for the parameters measured. Multiple regression analysis showed a highly significant effect (P≤ 0.001) of laser leveling with disc harrow ploughing on grain yield, compared to the other treatments used in the study (R2 = 0.40). The relation between the grain yield (Y) and the treatments: X1 ploughing, X2 leveling is summarized in the following equation: 
 Y = 2.875 + 0.552X1 + 0.254X2
 The study concluded that, although Laser leveling has increased the grain yield with high cost, yet it is not an expensive technique when the cost is distributed over the period of Laser leveling. The highest grain yield was obtained by the heavy disc harrow with laser land leveling.

Assessment of Water Productivity Enhancement and Sustainability Potential of Different Resource Conservation Technologies: A Review in the Context of Pakistan

Agriculture is the major economic sector in Asian countries and the majority of their population depends on it. In addition to the largest irrigation system in the Indus basin, Pakistan is suffering from water shortages that are affecting the overall crop production of the country. Different resource conservation technologies (RCTs) such as precision land leveling (PLL), raised bed planting (RBP), and different high-efficiency irrigation systems (HEISs) can be opted for better water productivity. In this study, the potential of these RCTs has been explored to enhance production and save irrigation water through their sustainable adoption. Based on studies by different researchers, water savings up to 47% and yield increases up to 35% have been reported under PLL, while water savings up to 50% and about 10–33% yield increases were observed under RBP. Similarly, under different HEISs, water savings up to 80% and yield increases up to 53% have been reported compared with crops sown under conventional farming. Based on the findings of the researchers regarding RCTs, these have been proved as progressive sowing techniques for better productivity under the limited available water scenario. The detailed review in this paper concludes that RCTs resulting in the improvement of gravity irrigation methods, viz., PLL and RBP, have a great potential of adoption and water productivity improvement at the regional scale in developing countries such as Pakistan, while high-cost HEISs can also be promoted at limited scale among progressive farmers for high-value agriculture.

Soil Organic Carbon and System Environmental Footprint in Sugarcane-Based Cropping Systems Are Improved by Precision Land Leveling

A six-year experiment (2009 to 2015) was conducted on sugarcane-based cropping systems in farmers’ fields to examine the effects of precision land leveling (PLL) compared to traditional land leveling (TLL) in terms of soil organic carbon (SOC), greenhouse gas emissions, irrigation water requirements, and system productivity and profitability. Twelve treatments compared different sugarcane sowing regimes and crops in rotation under both PLL and TLL. Spring-sown sugarcane grown in rotation with rice, potato, and wheat under PLL had the highest production (89.7 kg ha−1 day−1) and required 142 cm irrigation water, which was 35.1% less water than a commonly practiced cropping system with late-sown sugarcane grown in rotation with rice and wheat only under TLL). Cropping systems established under PLL had higher land use efficiency (ranging between 64.9 and 86.2%), higher energy productivity (90.7 to 198.6 GJ ha−1), and lower greenhouse gas emissions (5249.33 to 944.19 kg CO2 eq ha−1 year−1) than those under TLL. As well, treatments under PLL had increased levels of SOC, particularly in the upper soil layers, relative to SOC in treatments under TLL. Combining PLL with diversification of crops in sugarcane cropping systems has the potential to sustainably increase farmers’ land productivity and profitability while improving soil health and reducing irrigation requirements. These benefits are likely to have applications in other sugarcane-based cropping systems in similar agro-ecologies.

Carbon Dynamics in Climate Smart Agriculture Precision Land Leveling Practices on Topsoil Microbial Community Changes and Soil Organic Carbon in Cereal Based Cropping Systems of Sub-Tropical India: A Review

The role of soil microorganisms in the biogeochemical process and nutrient cycling of soil is critical and is colossally impacted by agronomic management practices. In order to establish climate-smart precision land leveling practices in cereal based cropping systems, comprehension of the land bacterial local area and supplement nutrient dynamics under differentiating management practices is of most extreme significance. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices are gaining traction in subtropical India as a viable alternative to conventional cereal-based cropping systems for reversing natural resource depletion. Sustainable soil management alternatives that sequester carbon in the soil, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and help intensify production, all while enhancing the natural resource base. Aggregate-associated soil organic carbon (SOC) contents in 0-15 cm depth were recorded highest SOC at 15-30 cm depth in Precision Land Leveling (PLL) systems as 9.4% for both M-P-MbPLL and M-W-MbPLL. Highest PON change in arable cropping system (30.9 & 40.1%) was found in O-W-Mb with precision land levelling plots followed by R-P-O with precision land levelling plots (26.1 & 35.8%) as compared to R-W and S-W system. The values of LFOC in surface soil were 194.7, 187.9, 176.2, 170.9, 168.5, 150.6, 132.8 and 123.8 mgkg−1 in R-P-O, R-C-O, M-W-Mb, O-W-Mb, M-P-Mb, R-P-Mb, R-W and S-W with precision land leveling treatments. Therefore, adopting Climate Smart Agriculture Precision Land leveling practices can dramatically boost system productivity in cereal-based cropping systems by improving SOC and soil biological quality. The overview literature accrued indicate that CSA based totally totally management has a remarkable impact on top soil resilience in phrases of relative abundances of bacterial groups, soil organic carbon & to be had plant nutrients and as a result may additionally play a vital function within the sustainability of the extensive cereal based cropping systems.

Measuring and Monitoring the Impact of Precision Land Levelling and Arable Cropping Systems on Aggregate Associated Carbon Fractions and Soil Carbon Stock in Sub-tropical Ecosystems

The Long term experiment (2009-10 to-2018-19) was conducted to study the effects of precision land levelled (PLL) versus traditional land levelled (TLL) systems on aggregate-associated soil organic carbon (SOC) in a farmers participatory fields under sub-tropical ecosystems (Western Uttar Pradesh) of Indian conditions. The significance of this study mainly focus to determine the suitability of various labile carbon fractions as indicators of soil quality and the stability of aggregates plays a vital role in preserving and long term storing of soil organic carbon by implementing Precision Land Levelling under various arable cropping system. The treatment comprised of sixteen alternative arable cropping systems strategies viz. R-WPLL, R-WTLL, S-WPLL, S-WTLL, R-P-MbPLL, R-P-MbTLL, R-P-OPLL, R-P-OTLL, R-C-OPLL, R-C-OTLL, O-W-MbPLL, O-W-MbTLL, M-W-MbPLL, M-W-MbTLL, M-P-MbPLL, and M-P-MbTLL etc were taken with recommended dose of fertilizers and various observations were recorded. The results indicated that the M-P-MbPLL produced 79.5 kgha-1day-1 productivity and used only 110 cm irrigation water which was 48.1 per cent less than irrigation water used for R-WPLL. The land use efficiency under R-P-MbPLL, R-P-OPLL, R-P-MbPLL, R-C-OPLL and M-P-MbPLL were recorded as 86.2, 85.1, 84.8, 84.6 and 83.9%. However, energy value in terms total input energy and energy productivity were 39.9 and 218.5 GJ ha-1 over existing R-W system (32.9 & 105.7 GJ ha-1). The quantity of water used in the R-C-O, M-W-Mb, M-P-Mb, and O-W-Mb were 46.1, 44.9, 40.1 and 36.3 per cent less than quantity of water used for R-W system. Aggregate-associated SOC contents in 0-15 cm depth were recorded highest SOC at 15-30 cm depth in PLL systems as 9.4% for both M-P-MbPLL and M-W-MbPLL. Highest PON change in arable cropping system (30.9 & 40.1%) was found in O-W-Mb with precision land levelling (T11) plots followed by R-P-O with precision land levelling (T7) plots (26.1 & 35.8%) as compared to R-W and S-W system. The values of LFOC in surface soil were 194.7, 187.9, 176.2, 170.9, 168.5, 150.6, 132.8 and 123.8 mgkg−1 in R-P-O, R-C-O, M-W-Mb, O-W-Mb, M-P-Mb, R-P-Mb, R-W and S-W with precision land levelling treatments. Higher SOC sequestration was observed with precision land leveling along with alternative arable cropping systems with O-W-MbPLL, R-C-OPLL, R-P-OPLL, O-W-MbPLL and M-P-MbPLL respectively. Therefore, PLL systems had greater soil surface aggregation and carbon storage, land levelling did not affect SOC patterns across aggregates, but changed the distribution of aggregate size, reflecting that land levelling mainly influenced soil fertility by altering soil structure.

Improving Irrigation Efficiencies through Different Methods of Land Leveling and Irrigation Discharge under Using Gated Pipes at North Delta

A field trial was conducted through summer season of 2016 at Sakha Agricultural research Station Farm, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of four methods of land leveling (traditional land leveling, precision land leveling, ground surface slope of 0.05% and 0.1% as main plots and three irrigation water discharge (2.0, 2.5 and 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1) as sub plots on cotton yield and its components, some water relations and irrigation efficiencies. The results revealed that the ground surface slope of 0.1% and 0.05% and precision land leveling lead to increasing the seed cotton yield by 21.8, 15.12 and 5.15% compared to traditional land leveling, respectively. Also, irrigation water discharge at 2.5 and 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 raised seed cotton yield by 11.61 and 5.13% compared to 2.0 L.Sec-1 m-1. The achieved results indicated that the land leveling of ground surface slope of 0.1% and irrigation 2.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 were the best treatment in increasing the boll weight and earliness percentage. Respecting to irrigation water saving, data demonstrated that the land leveling at 0.1% and 0.05% ground surface slope saved irrigation water by 33.57% and 21.93% compared to traditional land leveling. Data indicated that the interaction between land leveling and 0.1% ground irrigation water discharge at 3.5 L.Sec-1 m-1 obtained the highest values of water distribution efficiency, water application efficiency, consumptive use efficiency, water productivity and productivity of irrigation water.

EFFECT OF ROTERY PLOW AND PRECISION LAND LEVELING ON FABA BEAN RESPONSE TO ORGANIC FERTILIZATION

This study was carried out to identify the effect of rotary plow and precision land leveling on faba bean response to organic fertilization using the incorporated rice straw into the soil. The experiment was designed statistically as a split plots with three replicates. The main plots involved the rotary plowing treatment levels i.e. rotary plow as a minimum tillage, rotary plow after chisel plow(one pass) and rotary plow after chisel plow(two passes). The sub plots were located for the precision land leveling slope treatment levels i.e. 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03%, comparing with chisel plow(two passes) followed by traditional land leveling under bereaved of rice straw application. The rotary plow after chisel plow 1 pass followed by 0.02% precision land leveling slope under rice straw application accomplished more desirable soil characteristics, required the lower total applied irrigation water amount, produced higher seed yield and terminated higher water use efficiency.

Practice of Conservation Agriculture for Sustaining Agro-Ecosystem: A Review

Conservation agriculture has the potential to emerge as an effective strategy to the increasing concerns of serious and widespread natural resources’ degradation and environmental pollution, which accompanied the adoption and promotion of green revolution technologies since the early seventies. The key challenge today is to adopt strategies that will address the twin concerns of maintaining and enhancing the integrity of natural resources and improved productivity, while improvement of natural resources takes a lead as it forms the very basis for long-term sustained productivity. Land preparation through precision land leveling and bed and furrow configuration for planting crops further enable improved resource management. Over the past 2–3 decades globally, this concept has emerged as a way for transition to the sustainability of intensive production systems. Conservation agriculture (CA) can be seen as a new way forward for conserving resources and enhancing productivity to achieve the goals of sustainable agriculture, which demands a strong knowledge base and a combination of institutional and technological innovations. There is a need for policy analyses to understand how conservation technologies integrate with other technologies, policy instruments and institutional arrangements that promote or deter this system. As CA practices result in resource improvement only gradually and benefit in terms of crop yields may not come about immediately, evaluation and impact of CA practices therefore needs a longer term and a broader perspective which goes beyond yield increases only. CA is now considered a route to sustainable agriculture. Spread of CA, therefore will call for a greatly strengthened research and linked development efforts.

Modernizing Surface Irrigation and Land Levelling in Hetao with Application of the Decision Support Systems SADREG

Water resources allocated to the agricultural sector in the Yellow River basin are being reduced due to severe water scarcity and an increasing demand by the non-agricultural sectors, which imply surface irrigation modernization and the adopting water-saving technologies. The Hetao irrigation district has 0,570 Mha of irrigated land; traditional basin irrigation is the most common irrigation method. Its general conditions are adequate for surface irrigation due to the high charge of sediments on irrigation water and, among other factors, due to its appropriateness to leach salts. The new technologies of surface irrigation, including the modernized furrowed and flat basin irrigation systems, require the adoption of effective precise land leveling to reach the best performance standards. In this context, the development of high quality land leveling operation is a main condition for irrigation modernization. The laser land leveling technology provides for high land leveling quality, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control and crop productivity. The irrigation modernization also requires adopting adequate irrigation scheduling, control of inflow discharges and of related application times. The DSS methodology may contribute to improved design and management. The DSS SADREG aims to support design and selection of farm surface irrigation alternatives; it ranks those alternatives relative to irrigation performance and environmental and economic impacts using Multicriteria analysis. The DSS application bases on three years field work to evaluate the traditional practices and for the parameterization of design models from field irrigation systems evaluation. This paper presents the following SADREG application results: (i) evaluation of land leveling operation based on field observations and the comparison between laser and common practices; (ii) land parcels description, namely its size, slopes and water supply conditions; (iii) SADREG base models parameterization, including crop irrigation scheduling, infiltration, SIRMOD hydraulic simulation and economics; and (iv) presentation and comparison of alternatives of field irrigation modernization.

Conservation Agriculture: Significance, Challenges and Opportunities in Nepal

The conservation agriculture (CA) is an alternative agricultural production system that minimizes the soil disturbances and conserves the composition and natural biodiversity. The CA consists of three core principles which are maintenance of permanent or semi-permanent soil cover; minimum soil disturbance through tillage; and regular crop rotations. The factors namely precision land leveling, no-till systems, furrow irrigated raised bed planting systems, easy accessibility of machines/ equipments, crop residue management practice and crop diversification in Terai and plain areas enhance the suitability of CA in those areas but in the hills the presence of sloppy terraces makes cultivation difficult, scope of crop residue incorporation is limited since it is used for livestock feed, no or limited roads to transport the heavy machines/equipments, poor affordability of the farmers for machines and rainfed agriculture that may limit the promotion of CA based technologies. In Nepal the adoptions of CA technologies are in the primary stage and for their expansion, they require concerted efforts of all the stakeholders in the partnership and participatory approaches. Labor scarcity, increasing production costs and declining or static productivity are the major challenges of agriculture in Nepal. CA promotes reverse degradation processes, improves resource quality, reduces production costs and helps achieve sustained high productivity. Therefore CA based crop management practices across the various agro-ecologies need to be identified and promoted in Nepal.

Effect of precision land leveling and permanent raised bed planting on soil properties, input use efficiency, productivity and profitability under maize (Zea mays) – wheat (Triticum aestivum) cropping system

Precision land leveling with permanent raised bed planting with recommended dose of NPK can be used to improve crop yield,water and nutrient use efficiency over the existing traditional land leveling with flat beds planting with recommended dose of NPK practices. The objective of present study was to establish an understanding of maize (Zea mays L.) -wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotation 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 precision conservation crop management techniques. A farmers participatory field experiment was conducted during 2009- 2011 in the jurisdiction of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology, Meerut, UP. Multi crop planter with inclined plate seed metering device machine were given to the farmers and crops were sown on permanent raised beds in maize-wheat cropping system.The data collected from the farmers participatory field experiment showed that there was about 20.4% (295.8 mm/ha for wide beds, i e 107 cm furrow centre gap) water saving and about 16.5% (310.3 mm/ha for narrow beds, i e 37 cm furrow centre gap) with grain yield increase about 13.5% (5.13 and 4.44 tonnes/ha) for wheat crop and 11.8% (4.33 and 3.82 tonnes/ha) for maize crop with precision land leveling raised bed planting compared to traditional land leveling with flat beds planting. The agronomic efficiency (AE) of N (23.4 and 30.4 kg grain/kg N for maize and wheat) and uptake of N, P and K (103.85, 25.6 and 110.7 kg/ha for maize and 112.95, 19.49 and 112.96 kg/ha for wheat) were significantly improved under precision land leveling with raised bed planting technique compared to other practices.

Land leveling and changes in soil properties in paddy fields of Guilan province, Iran

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impacts of land leveling on some of soil properties. Land leveling as an effective strategy for paddy land management is one of the most important programs run by the Ministry of Jihad-Agriculture in Guilan province, northern part of Iran. Precise land leveling improves irrigation application, fertilization efficiency, and uniform soil moisture for germination. Also, it increases yields and cultivable lands and reduces delivery losses. Running land-leveling projects, however, leads to such disadvantages as severe soil alteration and consequently disruptions to the soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. Based on statistical analysis, on the one hand land, leveling led to significant increases (P < 0.01) in bulk density, clay percentage, and EC, and on the other hand, it resulted in significant decreases (P < 0.01) in the soil organic matter, silt percentage, NPK, pH, soil respiration, bacterial community, and microbial biomass carbon. Microscopic images of buried slides indicated that there was a reduction in the soil microorganism communities and diversities as well. With regard to the management of paddy fields, despite beneficial impacts of land leveling, the results indicate that due to malperformance of the project, which is a consequence of the use of inappropriate machinery and/or nonremoval of surface soil and its re-diffusion, most of soil-desirable properties are reduced and are not revitalized even after 4 years.

Water saving vs. farm economics in cotton surface irrigation: An application of multicriteria analysis

Improving surface irrigation systems for cotton in Ras-El-Ain district, Northeast Syria, needs finding alternative solutions that provide for both water saving and farm economic benefits in a context of small and family farms. Multicriteria analysis was used to evaluate and rank a set of furrow and border irrigation alternatives, with and without precise land leveling, that were created with the decision support system SADREG. This approach allowed to consider various criteria, mainly water saving and farm economics. Results show that both graded furrow and border alternatives are acceptable, with a slight advantage for graded furrows. Alternatives without land leveling have shown to be more appropriate when focusing farm economic results, while alternatives including land leveling were selected when priorities were assigned to water saving. These results relate with higher costs of alternatives that consider land leveling. Equipment for appropriate control of inflow rates was considered for all cases. The improved alternatives may lead to savings of 20–28% of irrigation water and increasing the irrigation water productivity from present 0.31 to 0.44kgm−3. When the same alternatives were ranked for a 20% deficit irrigation their rankings changed, with reduced ranks of alternatives requiring land leveling. This is due to the fact that yields and yield values are reduced with deficit irrigation, thus making it less favorable to select alternatives that imply higher costs. The study shows that adopting more advanced but more costly irrigation technologies aimed at water saving requires appropriate economic incentives, training of farmers and an institutional framework able to support the sustainable use of water in irrigation.

Layering Precision Land Leveling and Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed Planting: Productivity and Input Use Efficiency of Irrigated Bread Wheat in Indo-Gangetic Plains

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.

EFFECT OF MINIMUM TILLAGE ON CONSERVATION OF PRECISE LEVELED SOIL TO PRODUCE SOME WINTER CROPS AFTER RICE

During 2006 winter season, this study was carried out at Kalabsho Region, El-Dakhlia Governorate, to find out the effect of minimum tillage on conservation of precise leveled soil to produce some winter crops after rice harvest. During 2006 summer season, before rice planting, the soil was leveled using laser control equipment. After rice harvest, two experiments were established for planting clover, representing the flat planting and sugar beet, representing the ridge planting. Each experiment was designed statistically as a split plots with three replications. The main plots were located for the precision land leveling treatment levels of 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03% slope, comparing with the traditional leveling using the hydraulic scraper and the sub plots were devoted for the tillage methods levels of minimum tillage (chisel plough one pass) and conventional tillage (chisel plough 2 passes(, comparing with no-till. The obtained results could be concluded as follows: The minimum tillage at the precision land leveling slope of 0.02% achieved the more desirable soil characteristics (the moderate soil mean weight diameter of 50 mm, the higher soil moisture content of 22.85%, the lower soil bulk density of 1.30 g/cm3, the lower soil penetration resistance of 1.21 MPa and the higher available soil macronutrients concentration of 30, 14 and 318 ppm for N, P and K, respectively). The minimum tillage at the precision land leveling slope of 0.02% accomplished higher degree of soil topography conservation and recorded the lower difference between the highest and the lowest spots. 3. The minimum tillage at the precision land leveling slope of 0.02% achieved the higher beet yield of 28.65 Mg/fed with a sucrose yield of 22.04% and complemented the higher total dry (14% moisture content d.b.) clover yield of 17.10 Mg/fed (2.12, 3.32, 4.04, 4.36 and 2.87 Mg/fed for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th cuts, respectively). So, it is recommended to apply the minimum tillage, especially with the ridge planting, after rice harvest to conserve the precise leveled soil.

EFFECT OF PRECISION LAND LEVELING ON FABA BEAN RESPONSE TO COMPOST APPLICATION IN SANDY SOILS

This study was carried out in Kalabsho Region, El-Dakhlia Governorate, during 2007 winter season to identify effect of precision land leveling on faba bean response to compost application in sandy soils. The experiment was designed statistically as a split plots with three replicates. The main plots were located for the precision land leveling levels of 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03% slope, which were compared with the traditional land leveling (0.01% slope), and the sub plots were devoted for the compost amount levels of 1.60, 2.00 and 2.40 Mg/fed, which were compared with the bereaved of compost application. The precision land leveling slope of 0.02% under compost application of 2.40 Mg/fed achieved the lower soil bulk density value of 1.28 g/m3, the lower soil infiltration rate value of 20 mm/h and the higher concentration of soil macronutrients values of 24, 17 and 311 ppm for N, P and K, respectively. It required the lower total applied irrigation water amount of 1415 m3/fed. It achieved higher grain yield of 1.40 Mg/fed. and higher water use efficiency of 0.98 kg/m3. Generally, it is recommended to apply the precision land leveling under compost application to achieve higher faba bean grain yield and save more irrigation water in sandy soils.

Evaluation of precision land leveling and double zero-till systems in the rice–wheat rotation: Water use, productivity, profitability and soil physical properties

In recent years conventional production technologies in the rice–wheat (RW) system have been leading to deterioration of soil health and declining farm profitability due to high inputs of water and labour. Conservation agriculture (CA)-based resource-conserving technologies (RCTs) vis-à-vis zero-till (ZT), raised-bed planting and direct-seeded rice (DSR) have shown promise as alternatives to conventional production technologies to overcome these problems. The integration of CA-based RCTs with precision agriculture (PA)-based technologies in a systems perspective could provide a better option for sustainable RW production systems. In this study we attempted to evaluate conservation and precision agriculture (CPA)-based RCTs as a double-ZT system integrated with laser-assisted precision land leveling (PLL) in the RW system. A field experiment was conducted in the western IGP for 2 years to evaluate various tillage and crop establishment methods under PLL and traditional land leveling (TLL) practices to improve water productivity, economic profitability and soil physical quality. Irrespective of tillage and crop establishment methods (TCE), PLL improved RW system productivity by 7.4% in year 2 as compared to traditional land leveling. Total irrigation water savings under PLL versus TLL were 12–14% in rice and 10–13% in wheat. PLL improved RW system profitability by US$113 ha −1 (year 1) to $175 ha −1 (year 2). Yields were higher in conventionally transplanted rice followed by direct-drill-seeded rice after ZT. In wheat, yields were higher in ZT when followed by DSR than in the conventional-till (CT) system. RW system productivity under double ZT was equivalent to that of the conventional method. Among different TCE, conventional puddled-transplanted rice-CT wheat required 12–33% more water than other TCE techniques. Compared with CT systems, double ZT consumed 12–20% less water with almost equal system productivity and demonstrated higher water productivity. The CT system had higher bulk density and penetration resistance in 10–15 and 15–20 cm soil layers due to compaction caused by the repeated wet tillage in rice. The steady-state infiltration rate and soil aggregation (>0.25 mm) were higher under permanent beds and double ZT and lower in the CT system. Under CT, soil aggregation was static across seasons, whereas it improved under double no-till and permanent beds. Similarly, mean weight diameter of aggregates was higher under double ZT and permanent beds and increased over time. The study reveals that to sustain the RW system, CPA-based RCTs could be more viable options: however, the long-term effects of these alternative technologies need to be studied under varying agro-ecologies.

EFFECT OF PRECISION LAND LEVELING AND BIOFERTILIZERS ON RICE WATER USE EFFICIENCY IN SANDY SOILS

This study was carried out in Kalabsho Region, El-Dakhlia Governorate, during 2007 summer season to identify the rice water use efficiency in the sandy soils, as affected by the precision land leveling and the application of the biofertilizers. The experiment was designed statistically as a split plots with three replicates. The main plots were located for the precision land leveling levels, and the sub plots were devoted for the biofetilization types. The obtained results could be summarized as follows: 1. The precision land leveling with slope of 0.02% which was accompanied with the biofertilizers Blue Green Algae and Bacillus megatherium var. phosphaticum achieved the lower values of soil bulk density (1.28 g/m3) and soil infiltration rate (20 mm/h). 2. the precision land leveling saved the total applied irrigation water amount by about 44.68, 43.85, 41.82 and 18.47% for 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03% slopes, respectively from that required using the traditional leveling. 3. The precision land leveling with slope of 0.02% which was accompanied with the biofertilizers Blue Green Algae and Bacillus megatherium var. phosphaticum achieved higher grain yield of 3.96 ton/fed. and higher water use efficiency of 0.39 kg/m3. Generally, it is recommended to use the precision land leveling and apply the biofertilizers to achieve higher rice grain yield accompanied with saving more irrigation water under the sandy soils conditions.

Best Management Practices and Drought Combine to Silence the Illinois Chorus Frog in Arkansas

A primary threat to amphibians in North America is the loss of wetland areas used for reproduction, especially small, temporary, and isolated wetlands. The Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris streckeri illinoensis) is particularly vulnerable and exists today in a highly fragmented distribution limited to a few isolated populations in Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri. Precision land-leveling combined with seasonal drought conditions has resulted in a significant population decline and range contraction for this species in Arkansas. Distributional surveys conducted from 1987 through 2004 indicate a 61% range contraction from a maximum of 59 km2 to a current range of approximately 23 km2. Additionally, there has been a lack of recruitment the past 2 years for a species that typically possesses a 2–3-year lifespan. Because the Clean Water Act will only protect isolated vernal pools if the continued existence of a threatened or endangered species is jeopardized, the future of this subspecies of chorus frog in Arkansas is both tenuous and problematic. In the absence of immediate protection and habitat modification through the reintroduction of depressions, we argue extirpation of this species in Arkansas may be imminent. The increasing use of precision land-leveling may have implications for other amphibian species worldwide.