Conservation Agriculture: factors and drivers of adoption and scalable innovative practices in Indo-Gangetic plains of India– a review

ABSTRACT

Conventional- till (CT) agriculture is known to be ecologically indiscreet, economically and environmentally unsustainable, and leads to degradation of soil and environment in Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). Conservation Agriculture (CA) approach was introduced to manage agro-ecosystems for improved and sustained productivity, and increased farmers’ profits while maintaining the natural resources. This comprises the management of natural resources at the farm, village, and landscape scales to increase synergies between food production and ecosystem conservation. CA-based rice-wheat (RW) system integrated with mungbean improved the system productivity by ∼10%, profitability by 20–30% using 15–30% less irrigation water, and 20–25% less energy input compared to conventional RW system in the IGP. However, the replacement of rice with maize improved the productivity by 10-15% and profitability by 40–50% using ∼70% less irrigation water. CA layered with subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) in CA-based rice/maize systems recorded ∼5% higher system productivity and saved ∼50% of irrigation water compared to flood irrigation in CT-based systems. CA-based systems are found more adapted to extreme climatic conditions and can mitigate the negative effects of climatic stresses like terminal heat, water stress and thereby helps in increasing crop yields to the tune of 0.4–0.8 t ha⁻¹ per season over the conventional system.

KEYWORDS:

• Conservation agriculture
• residue management
• zero tillage
• cereal systems
• Indo-Gangetic plains of India

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) (CSSRI PME cell reference no. Review article/124/2020) and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) for their support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

H. S. Jat is working as a Principal Scientist (Agronomy) and working on conservation agriculture (CA) and climate smart agriculture practices (CSAPs) to addresses the natural resource degradation in the Indian IGP. His focus is on sustainable intensification for systems' sustainability and nations' food security. Currently engaged in how salt dynamics changes with CSAPs in salt affected soils and on out-scaling of CSAPs in the north-west Indian IGP.

Ashim Datta is a Scientist in the field of Soil Science. He is interested in exploring mechanisms of soil carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems, conservation agriculture and soil quality, salt affected soils and land use effects.

Madhu Choudhary is a Scientist in the field of Agriculture Microbiology. Her research interest includes studies on metagenomics, plant growth promoting microbes, residue degrading microbes and microbial activities under different agriculture management systems.

P. C. Sharma is the Director, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India. He is Plant Physiologist has more than 30 years' research experience in understanding mechanism of salt tolerance in different crops and has developed eleven salt tolerant varieties of rice, mustard, wheat and lentil. He is leading project on CA based management systems since last 12 years.

M. L. Jat is working as a Principal cropping system agronomist and leading the CIMMYT Sustainable Intensification program activities in South Asia. His field of specialization is Conservation Agriculture, precision farming and climate smart agriculture in cereal based systems of South Asia.