Evaluation and promotion of integrated crop and resource management in the rice_wheat system in northwest India
2009
Saharawat, Y.S. | Gathala, M, | Ladha, J,K, | Malik, R.K. | Singh, S. | Jat, M.L. | Gupta, R.K. | Pathak, H. | Singh, K.
The rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) is an age-old practice in South Asia but its present worth and expansion were triggered by the development of high-yielding varieties in both crops during the Green Revolution, leading to accelerated growth in food production and a decline in food prices. Agricultural sustainability problems resulting from declining natural resources, such as water, and increasing labor and energy prices are prevalent throughout this agroecological region. Rice-wheat (Oryza sativa L.Triticum aestivum L) is the major cropping system of the region and conventional tillage and crop establishment methods such as puddled transplanting require a large amount of water, labor, and energy, which are increasingly becoming scarce and expensive. This article considers practices that would sustain higher and more stable yields for the rice-wheat system of the region. We attempted to evaluate alternatives that would require smaller amounts of water and labor. Farmer participatory trials were conducted in the western IGP for 3 years to evaluate various tillage and crop establishment systems for their efficiency in labor and water, and economic profitability. The yields of rice in conventional puddled transplanting, unpuddled transplanting, zero-till transplanting, and direct-seeding systems were equal. Yields of wheat following both conventional or alternative tillage and crop establishment in rice were also equal. Rice varieties PHB-71 and PRH-1O performed better under alternative tillage and crop establishment methods. Laser-aided land leveling had a significant effect on reducing irrigation water use in rice. The dry-direct- seeding and zero-tillage rice-wheat system had a savings in labor and machine use. Zero-tillage transplanted and dry-direct-seeded rice followed by zero-till wheat had a higher net return than the conventional and unpuddled system. Our study showed that the conventional practice of puddled transplanting could be replaced by unpuddled and zero-tillage based crop establishment methods to save water and labor and achieve higher income.
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