Replacement of rice-wheat cropping system with alternative diversified systems concerning crop productivity and their impact on soil carbon and nutrient status in soil profile of north-west India

Figures & data

Figure 1. Layout of experimental site.

Table 1. Treatment details and management practices of individual crops grown under different cropping systems

Cropping systems	Kharif season					Rabi season
	Varieties	Fertilizer recommendation (kg ha^−1)			FYM (t ha^−1)	Varieties	Fertilizer recommendation (kg ha^−1)			FYM (t ha^−1)
		N	P2O5	K2O			N	P2O5	K2O
Rice-Wheat	Rice PR126	105	-	30	15	Wheat PBW725	125	62.5	-	-
Maize-Wheat	Maize PMH13	125	57.6	30	15	Wheat PBW725	125	62.5	-	-
Cotton-Wheat	Cotton RCH773	105	30	-	-	Wheat PBW725	125	62.5	-	-
Moongbean-Wheat	Moongbean ML2056	12.50	40	-	-	Wheat PBW725	125	62.5	-	-
Soybean-Wheat	Soybean SL958	31.25	80	-	-	Wheat PBW725	125	62.5	-	-
Moongbean-Raya	Moongbean ML2056	12.50	40	-	-	Raya RLC3	100	30	-	-

Figure 2. Surface and depth-wise distribution (up to 120 cm) of soil pH, EC, OC, available P and K, DTPA-Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni and B, soluble Ca and Mg and available S under different cropping systems.

Within columns of the same parameter, the values followed by the same letter are nonsignificant at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

Table 2. Variation of soil OC and available macronutrients in soil profile (mean values of 0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm) under different cropping systems

	Soil parameters
	pH	Electrical conductivity (EC)	Organic carbon (OC)	Available macronutrients
				Phosphorus (P)	Potassium (K)
		dS m^−1	%	kg ha^−1	kg ha^−1
Cropping systems*
Rice-Wheat	8.43^a	0.09^a	0.27^c	24.11^c	93.52^a
Maize-Wheat	8.46^a	0.08^a	0.39^a	26.62^b	94.84^a
Cotton-Wheat	8.44^a	0.08^a	0.40^a	25.77^bc	96.63^a
Moongbean-Wheat	8.41^a	0.09^a	0.37^a	25.45^bc	97.06^a
Soybean-Wheat	8.43^a	0.08^a	0.33^b	30.86^a	94.62^a
Moongbean-Raya	8.44^a	0.09^a	0.33^b	29.69^a	96.49^a
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	NS	NS	0.04	2.22	NS
Depth (cm)^#
D1 (0–15 cm)	8.55^a	0.11^a	0.59^a	31.92^a	146.95^a
D2 (15–30 cm)	8.48^b	0.10^b	0.38^b	28.72^b	96.28^b
D3 (30–60 cm)	8.43^c	0.08^c	0.31^c	26.39^c	82.69^c
D4 (60–90 cm)	8.37^d	0.07^d	0.24^d	25.04 ^cd	78.71^c
D5 (90–120 cm)	8.34^d	0.07^d	0.24^d	23.33^d	73.08^d
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	0.06	0.01	0.04	2.03	5.47

Within columns, the values followed by same letter are nonsignificant at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

*Values represent mean values of soil profile (0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm under a given cropping system.

^#Values represent mean values of six cropping systems at a given depth.

Table 3. Variation of soil micro nutrients in soil profile (mean values of 0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm) under different cropping systems

	Micronutrients (mg kg^−1)
	DTPA-Zn	DTPA-Fe	DTPA-Mn	DTPA-Cu	DTPA-Ni	Available B
Cropping systems*
Rice-Wheat	1.11^c	11.68^a	5.52^a	0.49^a	0.15^a	0.33^e
Maize-Wheat	1.30^abc	10.75^b	5.33^a	0.45^a	0.14^a	0.37^d
Cotton-Wheat	1.29^ab	10.97^ab	5.33^a	0.43^a	0.15^a	0.40^c
Moongbean-Wheat	1.74^ab	10.35^b	4.04^b	0.47^a	0.11^a	0.34^de
Soybean-Wheat	1.82^a	10.43^b	4.36^b	0.42^a	0.11^a	0.49^a
Moongbean-Raya	1.17^c	10.33^b	4.44^b	0.43^a	0.10^a	0.44^b
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	0.54	0.75	0.87	NS	0.05	0.04
Depth (cm)^#
D1 (0–15 cm)	4.90^a	12.07^a	6.14^a	0.79^a	0.17^a	0.62^a
D2 (15–30 cm)	1.36^b	11.33^ab	4.99^b	0.58^b	0.15^a	0.48^b
D3 (30–60 cm)	0.35^c	10.69^bc	4.52^bc	0.35^c	0.12^b	0.40^c
D4 (60–90 cm)	0.24^c	10.28^c	4.29^c	0.28^d	0.11^b	0.29^d
D5 (90–120 cm)	0.18^c	9.54^c	4.25^c	0.25^d	0.08^c	0.19^e
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	0.49	0.69	0.79	0.05	0.04	0.03

Within columns, the values followed by same letter are nonsignificant at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

*Values represent mean values of soil profile (0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm under a given cropping system.

^#Values represent mean values of six cropping systems at a given depth.

Table 4. Variation of soil secondary nutrients in soil profile (mean values of 0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm) under different cropping systems

	Soil secondary nutrients
	Soluble calcium	Soluble magnesium	Available sulphur
	(Ca)	(Mg)	(S)
	C mol (^+) kg^−1		mg kg^−1
Cropping systems*
Rice-Wheat	14.45^a	9.80^a	18.46^a
Maize-Wheat	15.80^a	10.95^a	18.88^a
Cotton-Wheat	15.50^a	10.90^a	22.66^a
Moongbean-Wheat	14.45^a	10.40^a	22.68^a
Soybean-Wheat	14.20^a	9.00^a	20.21^a
Moongbean-Raya	14.40^a	9.95^a	19.99^a
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	NS	NS	NS
Depth (cm)^#
D1 (0–15 cm)	18.42^a	13.21^a	30.94^a
D2 (15–30 cm)	15.83^b	11.21^b	24.36^b
D3 (30–60 cm)	14.42^cd	9.58^c	19.48^c
D4 (60–90 cm)	13.00^d	8.75^cd	15.17^d
D5 (90–120 cm)	12.33^e	7.79^d	11.88^e
L.S.D. (p < 0.05)	1.48	1.55	3.24

Within columns, the values followed by same letter are nonsignificant at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT).

*Values represent mean values of soil profile (0–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–90, and 90–120 cm under a given cropping system.

^#Values represent mean values of six cropping systems at a given depth.

Table 5. Correlation analysis of soil parameters

	pH	EC	OC	Available P	Available K	Soluble Ca	Soluble Mg	Available S	DTPA-Zn	DTPA-Fe	DTPA-Mn	DTPA-Cu	DTPA-Ni	Available B
pH	1	0.975**	0.954*	0.993**	0.912*	0.994**	0.992**	0.999**	0.879*	0.989**	0.941*	0.972**	0.978**	0.995**
EC		1	0.942*	0.970**	0.895*	0.973**	0.976**	0.974**	0.874	0.951*	0.937*	0.988**	0.950*	0.952*
OC			1	0.965**	0.988**	0.981**	0.968**	0.959*	0.978**	0.925*	0.998**	0.975**	0.901*	0.935*
Available P				1	0.940*	0.995**	0.999**	0.998**	0.911*	0.992**	0.960**	0.983**	0.983**	0.990**
Available K					1	0.952*	0.942*	0.924*	0.996**	0.895*	0.994**	0.951*	0.87	0.898*
Soluble Ca						1	0.996**	0.996**	0.927*	0.979**	0.973**	0.985**	0.964**	0.985**
Soluble Mg							1	0.997**	0.915*	0.988**	0.964**	0.988**	0.980**	0.987**
Available S								1	0.892*	0.992**	0.950*	0.978**	0.983**	0.995**
DTPA-Zn									1	0.856	0.987**	0.936*	0.829	0.859
DTPA-Fe										1	0.918*	0.955*	0.996**	0.996**
DTPA-Mn											1	0.977**	0.896*	0.922*
DTPA-Cu												1	0.949*	0.953*
DTPA-Ni													1	0.985**
Available B														1

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Figure 3. Effect of different cropping systems on rice equivalent grain yield (q ha⁻¹), wheat equivalent grain yield (q ha⁻¹), system grain (wheat equivalent) productivity (q ha⁻¹), and biological yield (q ha⁻¹) of kharif and rabi season crops.