PROFESSOR JAYASHANKAR TELANGANA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY,

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE , RAJENDRA NAGAR

CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE AND WHAT IS THE ROLE IN

DRYLANDS

BYSHAIKH WASIM CHAND

RAM / 15-13

Introduction

• Conservation agriculture aims to conserve , improve and make more efficient use of natural resources through integrated management of available soil, water and biological resources combined with external inputs. (FAO)

• The concept of conservation agriculture evolved from zero tillage.

• Its objective is economically, ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural production.

What is Drylands • The areas receiving annual rainfall more than

750 mm.• These are arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid

areas.• Moisture conservation practices are necessary

for crop production.

WHY IT IS NEEDED ?

• It is conserve soil and moisture.• Water is limiting factor in dryland agriculture so

conservation of moisture is needed.• It conserve natural resources like land, water.• Total cultivated area of India is 143 M ha out of this

108 M ha area is under dryland. • Conservation agriculture balances yields, resource conservation and increased efficiency for smallholder farmers.

What is Conservation Agriculture

Minimum Soil Disturbance :

• Direct planting through the soil cover without seed bed preparation.

• Minimal soil disturbance means no tillage.• Minimum mechanical soil disturbance which

is essential to maintaining minerals within the soil.

• Reduce erosion and prevent water loss.

• NT plus mulch reduces surface soil crusting, increases water infiltration, reduces run-off and gives higher yield than tilled soils (Cassel et al. 1995;Thierfelder et al. 2005).

• Similarly, the surface residue, anchored or loose, protects the soil from wind erosion (Michels et al. 1995).

• Producers can save 30% to 40% of time and labour by practicing the no-till process. (FAO)

Maintaining Soil Cover & Crop Residues

-Protects the soil surface from aggregate destruction. - Enhances water infiltration.- Reduces soil erosion.-Helps to maintain soil temperature. -Increase in organic matter.

-The energy of raindrop falling on a bare soil result in destruction of soil aggregates, clogging of soil pores and rapid reduction in water infiltration with resulting run-off and soil erosion.

-

• The relationship between soil loss by wind erosion and the percent of soil cover.

• Covering 20 % of the surface reduced soil losses by 57 %

• Covering 50 % reduced soil losses by 95 % compared to soil with no cover.

• Crop residues reduces runoff losses and protecting soil surface that are prone to crusting from raindrop action.

• It also reduce evaporation losses.

Fryer (1985)

Crop selection & Crop Rotation

• Crop selection and choice of cultivars are important decisions made by producers for dryland agriculture.

• Crops should have a short stature with limited leaf area to minimize transpiration.

• Crops have deep dense root system to procure the soil water.

• Use early maturing crops.• Plants mature before available soil moisture is

exhausted.• Crop diversification remains an important step

towards the goal of increasing profitability and sustainability of dryland agriculture.

• Crop rotation should be including legumes.

Soil & Water Conservation Practices :• Soil and water conserved through by applying

- Minimum or Zero Tillage - Crop residue management - Mulching

Improved Tillage Practices :• Early seed bed preparation for timely sowing. • Enabling precipitation to entering in the soil.

Improved Fertility Practices :• Drylands are sometimes more hungry than thirsty.• Placement of a basal dose of nutrients.• Split application of nitrogen. Alternate Land Use Systems :• Alternate land use systems are the means of

stabilizing the productivity of land use systems practiced in drylands are,

- Alley cropping -Ley farming

Problems in Applying Conservation Agriculture in Dryland Regions

• Competitive uses of crop residues

• Weed preponderance

• Lower crop yields

• Lack of new implements and operating skills

• Nutrient immobilization

• Carry over of Insect-pests and Diseases pathogen

• Low investment capacity of dryland farmers

• Lack of sufficient research on conservation agriculture in drylands

CASE STUDIES

Cost of Field Operation –Cereal/Legume Rainfed Rotation under Conservation Agriculture and Conventional Agriculture (Syria 2008-09)Crop Operation Conventional tillage Conservation agriculture

Implements Cost SL/ha Implement Cost SL/haCereals Cultivation Duck-foot 1000

Seeding Cereal drill 800 ZT planter 800

Weed control Pre-plant. Glyphosate (750)

Post-em. 1600 Post-em 1600

Total cereals 3400 2400

Lentil Plough MB or Disc 2500

Cultivation Duck-foot 1000

Seeding Cereal drill 800 ZT planter 800

Weed control Pre-plant. Glyphosate (750)

Post-em 3100 Post-em 3100

Harvesting 20 L/day/ha 3500 22 L/day/ha 3850

Total lentil 10900 7750

TOTAL SYSTEM 14300 10150Source : ICARDA

Yield, Production and Land-use efficiency as influenced by Maize based Cropping System (Mean of 3 years)

Treatment Maize yield (t/ha)

Yield of cropping system (t/ha)

Maize equivalent yield (t/ha)

Duration of

cropping system (days)

Production efficiency

(kg/ha/day)

Land use efficiency

%

Cropping systemMaize-Pea 4.24 2.48 7.96 240 33.2 65.8

Maize-Ind. Must. 4.11 1.38 7.56 262.5 28.8 71.9Maize -Frenchbean 4.21 4.91 10.10 238 42.4 65.2

Maize-Groundnut 4.25 1.67 8.43 258 32.7 70.7

Maize-Fallow 4.16 4.16 135 30.8 37

MulchWithout mulch 2.34 8.03 247 32.7 67.7With mulch 2.88 8.99 252.3 35.8 69.1

V.K CHOUDHARY & SURESH KUMAR (2013)

Tillage Operations and Power Requirement

Tillage operation Power (hp/m)

Time (h/ha)

Fuel consumption (l/ha)

Number of passes

Conventional tillage:• Deep tillage • Secondary tillage• Seed bed preparation• Seeding

100 to 14050 – 7020 – 3015 – 25

15

6.5 to 8.53.0 - 4.02.0 - 2.51.0 - 1.5

0.5

31 to 4510 – 1510 – 12

6 – 85

4

Reduced tillage:• Stubble plowing • Seed bed preparation• Seeding

50 to 7020 – 3015 – 25

15

3.5 to 5.02.0 - 3.01.0 - 1.5

0.5

21 to 2510 – 12

6 – 85

3

Minimum tillage:• Disc harrowing • Seeding

30 to 4015 – 25

15

2.0 to 2.5 1.0 - 1.5

0.5

11 to 135 - 8

5

2

No-till 25 to 35 0.6 to 1.0 5 to 7 1

Source : ICARDA

Effect of Tillage and Mode of MulchApplication on Grain Yield of Corn (q ha-1) BHATT et al 2004

Mode of MulchApplication

Tillage Mean

Tm Tc

Mw 41.4 39.1 40.3

M1/3rd 33.1 32.0 32.6

Ms 33.0 31.6 32.3

Mv 25.6 25.0 25.3

Mo 25.5 24.6 25.1

Mean

CD (5%)

31.7Tillage (T) = NS

Mulching (M)=1.04 T x M = NS

30.5

Tm = Minimum tillage, Tc = Conventional tillage, Mw= Mulch on the whole plot, M1/3rd= Mulch on the lower 1/3rd of the plot, Ms=Strip mulching, Mv= Vertical mulching, Mo= Control bare plots

Effect of tillage depth and mulching practices on soil water storage depletion (mm) from different soil layers for a period of 132 days

(averaged over first 2 years data)

Treatments Soil Depth (cm)

0-15 15-30 30-60 60-90 90-120

TillageConventional tillage 17.6 17.5 30.7 33.0 25.0

Shallow tillage 17.1 18.2 31.2 33.9 26.0

LSD (T) 0.34 0.55 n.s n.s n.s

MulchingNo mulch 17.2 18.7 25.7 28.0 27.8

Soil dust mulch 18.0 18.4 29.7 31.0 26.4

Straw mulch 16.9 16.4 37.4 41.2 22.2

LSD (M) 0.82 1.72 6.42 3.46 4.17

LSD (T x M) n.s n.s n.s n.s n.s

S. Sarkar et al (2007)

Effect of Tillage and Mulching on Soil Erosion in Hill Slope (5-15%) (Bangladesh)

Treatments Dry weight of eroded soil (t/ha)

Mulch 22.25

No mulch 58.02

Zero-tillage (dibble) 23.77

Minimum tillage (furrow planting Conventional

35.68

Tillage (Spading) 61.13

Zero-tillage + Mulch 13.12

Zero-tillage + no Mulch 34.43

Minimum tillage + Mulch 20.12

Minimum tillage + no Mulch 51.24

Conventional tillage + Mulch 33.43

Conventional tillage + no Mulch 88.85

MIAH Md. Muslem Uddin