Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

TILLAGE CROP ESTABLISHMENT STRATEGIES AND SOIL FERTILITY MANAGEMENT: RESOURCE USE EFFICIENCIES AND SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN A RICE-WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEM

R.K. Naresh, Raj K. Gupta, Gajendra Pal, S.S. Dhaliwal, Dipender Kumar, Vineet Kumar, Vichitra Kumar Arya, Raju, S.P. Singh, Basharullah, Onkar Singh and Pardeep Kumar

Abstract

A long-term field experiment was conducted to design and implement alternative production systems with increased resource use efficiency, productivity and to determine the effect of tillage systems and mineral fertilizers on soil organic carbon patterns. This experiment intended to evaluate the effects of these management strategies on soil structural formation and structural stabilization of a sandy loam soil. The shift from puddled - transplanted rice on the flat land to raised bed systems affects the productivity and resource use efficiency of the rice-wheat system. Therefore, the potential benefits and constraints of tillage crop establishment systems need to be quantified on short to long-term basis, optimum layouts and management systems to maximize yield and efficiency. Undisturbed soil samples were collected from the 15 to 100 cm soil layer in the field grown with wheat to assess SOC, bulk density, C restoration rate, C sequestered, C sequestration efficiency (%) and crop yield. However, at the end of the 12 years period, SOC was 25% greater with T6 than T7, 16% greater with T4 than T1, and 17% higher with T2 than T7. Average SOC concentration of the control treatment was 0.54%, which increased to 0.65% in the RDF treatment and 0.82% in the RDF+FYM treatment. Compared to F1 control treatment the RDF+FYM treatment sequestered 0.33 Mg C ha–1yr–1 whereas the NPK treatment sequestered 0.16 Mg C ha–1 yr–1. These findings suggest that carbon sequestration can be improved if treatments T6 or T4 are used in lieu of T7, respectively.