Resource conservation practices in maize-mustard cropping system: Impact on energy, soil carbon and nutrient dynamics

Sustainability, productivity, profitability and soil health with conservation agriculture based sustainable intensification of oilseed brassica production system

“…The system grain yield and mustard equivalent yield increased in the permanent beds might be due to favorable soil–plant–environment continuum in the permanent beds complementing with crop residues. CA-based system productivity enhancement were also reported to increase in mustard under rice-mustard system 26 , 27 .…”

“…Inclusion of legumes in the cropping system (green gram and cluster bean) in the present study increased SOC and PFPn might be due to increased N supply by their biological N fixation, and addition of low C:N ratio legume crop residue which decomposed easily and converted to soil carbon. Residue incorporation/retention helps in improving SOC through soil aggregate size and stability 26 , 38 , 39 . The minimum SOC was reported in the conventional tillage practices where repeated tillage and inversion of top soil might have resulted into faster soil organic matter degradation due to aggregate disruption, higher oxidation and mineralization, and nutrient loss 40 .…”

Sustainability, Productivity, Profitability and Soil Health With Conservation Agriculture-Based Sustainable Intensification of Oilseed Brassica Production System

“…This might be due to favorable soil-plant-environment continuum in the permanent beds complementing with residues resulted into higher biomass and system yield. CA-based system reported to increased mustard yield, higher system productivity in the rice-mustard 26,27 .…”

“…Inclusion of legumes (GG & CB) in the mustard-based cropping systems reported higher SOC and PFPn might be due to legume effect, low C:N ratio residue of green gram and cluster bean increased the SOC and residual N after harvest. Residue incorporation/retention helps in improving SOC through soil aggregate size and stability 38,39,26 . The minimum SOC under CT could be due to excessive tillage led to inversion of the top soil, SOM degradation by aggregates disruption, higher oxidation and mineralization of SOM, and consequent release of nutrients 40 .…”

Double zero-tillage and foliar-P nutrition coupled with bio-inoculants enhance physiological photosynthetic characteristics and resilience to nutritional and environmental stresses in maize–wheat rotation

“…CA aims to maximize agricultural yields and farm incomes while minimizing the negative environmental effects of traditional agriculture ( Parihar et al, 2016 ). Zero-tillage is essential nowadays due to reduction in the cost of cultivation, greater retention of soil moisture, decreased energy consumption, increased farm revenues, improved soil biophysical and chemical characteristics, carbon sequestration, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and comprehensive natural resource conservation ( Paul et al, 2014 ; Jakhar et al, 2018 ; Varatharajan et al, 2019b ; Pooniya et al, 2022 ). MWCS is India’s 3rd largest cropping system, covering ∼1.8 million ha and accounting for 3% of the country’s total food production ( Pooniya et al, 2015 ).…”