Challenges and technological interventions in rice–wheat system for resilient food–water–energy-environment nexus in North-western Indo-Gangetic Plains: A review

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping system in north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains performed a crucial role in the national food security. However, the widespread and intensive cultivation of this system has led to serious problems such as declining groundwater table (~1 meter year −1 ) with sharp increase in number of districts under over-exploitation category, residue burning, higher greenhouse gases emission and herbicide resistance in weeds, causing stagnant crop productivity and lesser profitability. In this review article, an attempt has been made to discuss the major issues pertaining to intensive rice-wheat cultivation amidst climate vagaries and futuristic approach to address these challenges. Different tillage-and crop-specific recommendations such as adoption of direct seeded rice, diversification with lesser resource guzzling crops such as maize (Zea mays L.) at least on the periodic manner especially in light-medium soils, inclusion of summer legumes and alternative tillage systems (permanent beds and zero tillage with residue retention) have been suggested to address these issues. However, crop performance under these techniques has been found to be location, soil and cultivar specific. The absence of aerobic tailored genotypes and weeds have been identified as the major constraints in adoption of direct seeded rice. The integrated strategies of conservation tillage, crop breeding program and resource conserving region-and soil-specific agronomic measures with crop diversification would be helpful in tackling the sustainability issues. It requires future efforts on developing crop genotypes suited to conservation tillage, effective weed control strategies and trainings and demonstrations to farmers to switch from conventional rice-wheat system to alternative cropping systems.

Impact of irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide management practices on groundwater and soil health in the rice-wheat cropping system: A comparison of conventional, resource conservation technologies and conservation agriculture

“…Furthermore, Studies conducted by Bhatt et al (2016) and Yadav et al (2015) have demonstrated increased uptake of NPK nutrients when legumes are incorporated into cereal systems, contributing to the sustainability of cropping systems. Consequently, changes in cropping systems have profound effects on soil properties, nutrient availability, and overall soil quality in arid and semi-arid ecosystems (Khedwal et al, 2023). Furthermore, it leads to a reduction in weed density, with a decrease of 65% under ZT and 41% under CT (Weisberger et al, 2019).…”

“…The agricultural sector's electricity consumption in India has increased 54 times from 1969 to 2016, highlighting the heavy reliance on electricity for irrigation (Singh et al, 2022b). This situation is in uenced by farmers' preference for pumping irrigation water from tube wells rather than relying on canal water, which often suffers from unreliable supply, poor maintenance, and ine ciency (Khedwal et al, 2023). The irrigation infrastructure utilizing groundwater plays a signi cant role in India's economy, contributing over 10% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and meeting 60% of its irrigation requirements (Scott & Sharma, 2009).…”

Towards Sustainable Vegetable Farming: Exploring Agroecological Alternatives to Chemical Products in the Fez-Meknes Region of Morocco

“…Research has shown that organic fertilizers can improve soil health and productivity while reducing environmental impacts. Government initiatives to promote the use of organic fertilizers have been successful in some countries, such as India and China, where subsidies and training programs have been implemented [31][32][33][34][35].…”

Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria and Crop Residue in Rice–Wheat System Cultivated with Favorable Tillage Influence Crop Productivity, Nutrient Uptake, Soil Quality, and Profitability in the Terai Agro-Ecological Zone of West Bengal, India

“…Resource conservation technology (conservation agriculture, CA) has been found to be more climate-changeadaptive and to increase the productivity of soil and crops in these regions [6]. Therefore, the adoption of CA maybe best suited to the long-term sustainability of rice-wheat systems for south Asian countries [7].…”