Nageswara Rao V, Rego TJ, Meinke H, Parsons D, Craufurd PQ, Wani SP, and Kropff MJ

Long-term evaluation of dryland cropping systems intensification for enhancing productivity on Vertisols

of the semi-arid India

180 m. ha is under Vertisols globally

Distributed across Northern Australia, India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Argentina, Mexico and Central America.

72.9 m. ha is in India, that is 22.2% of India’s geographical area.

Distributed in the states of

Maharashtra (84%),

Gujarath (48%),

Madhya Pradesh(38%)

Andhra Pradesh (26%).

Distribution of Vertisols and associated soils

Vertisols are difficult to Manage as they shrink and crack, becomes hard on drying. Swell and sticky with rains.

Twin problems : poor drainage – water logging due to high clay content (40-60%, up to 80%).

Farmers keep Vertisols fallow in rainy season, and sow crops in Sept-Oct on stored soil moisture.

Rainy season fallow Vertisols distribution

States Rainy season fallows (m. ha)

All India 26.2

Madhya Pradesh 5.378

Maharashtra 4.642

Andhra Pradesh 2.253

Management problems of Vertisols

25% as runoff against 15% as runoff from cropped fields.

25% of rainfall lost through evaporation. 9% of rainfall lost in deep percolation 41% of rainfall is potentially available for

post rainy season crops.

10-43 t ha-1 yr-1 of soil is lost through soil erosion from fallows.

80% of soil erosion could be reduced with cropping .

Runoff and soil erosion from Vertisols

Waterlogging on Vertisols during rainy season

Rainy season fallow fieldsWater balance studies for 6 years on rainy season fallows showed rainfall losses are :

Chickpea after a rainy season fallow (FCP-FCP)

Sorghum after a rainy season fallow (FS-FS)

Farmers’ risk management strategy is to leave the land fallow during rainy season.

Sow crops like sorghum, chickpea, safflower year after year on these Vertisols.

Farmers preferably sow post rainy season crops in the month of October based on receding monsoon rainfall.

Generally farmers sow traditional varieties.

Traditional fallow systems

Climate at ICRISAT

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

monthly mean rainfall (mm) Pan EvaporationM

ean

mon

thly

rain

fall

and

evap

ora-

tion

(mm

)

Rainy season

Post-rainy season

Rainfall ranges from 750-1250 mm on Vertisols regions in India,

Rainy season cropping period is June- September,

ET is less than rainfall from July to September months

Our main goal was to enhance sustainable productivity, and specific objectives are:

1. Identify improved sustainable cropping system options for enhanced crop productivity.

2. Quantify the benefits of grain legumes in the intensified cropping system rotations.

Objectives

Experiment was conducted for 15 years at ICRISAT farm from 1983 to 1997 seasons.Main plots: cropping systems

1st Year 2nd Year Rotation Abbreviation

Rainy Post-rainy Rainy Post-rainy Mung bean (M) + Sorghum Mung bean + Sorghum MS-MS

Sorghum (S) + Chickpea (CP) Sorghum + Chickpea SCP-SCP

Fallow (F) + Sorghum(S) Fallow + Sorghum FS-FS

Fallow + Sorghum Fallow + Chickpea FS-FCP

Sub plots: Nitrogen application 4 levels of Nitrogen 0, 40, 80,120 kg ha-1 for cereals only (sorghum). Rainfed cropping completely and no irrigation for crops.

Experimental details

Mung bean was dry seeded during first fortnight of June before monsoon rains.

270,000 plants ha-1 population was maintained for mung bean.

Post-rainy sorghum sown in the 3rd week of September after mung bean harvest.

120,000 plants ha-1 was maintained for post-rainy sorghum.

Mung bean in rainy season

Sorghum in post-rainy season

Improved SystemMungbean + Sorghum (MS+MS)

Rainy sorghum was dry sown, to maintain 180,000 plants ha-1 .

Cultivar sown was CSH-6 in all the years.

Chickpea cultivar Annegiri was sown one week after harvest of sorghum without any cultivation.

333,000 plants ha-1 was maintained

Rainy season sorghum

Chickpea sown after the harvest of sorghum

Improved system sorghum + chickpea (SCP-SCP)

Fallow+sorghum (F+S) Fallow+chickpea (F+CP) Sorghum cultivar CSH-8R was sown after

fallow in Sep-Oct in FS-FS treatment.

Post rainy sorghum was maintained at 120,000 plants ha-1.

Chickpea sown after rainy season fallow in Sep-Oct in FCP treatment.

Population target was 333,000 plant ha-1.

Traditional cropping systems in the experiment

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

FS-FS MS-MS FS-FCP SCP-SCP

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

chickpea sorghum mung bean

Cropping systems

Gra

in y

ield

(kg

ha-1

two-

year

rota

tion-

1)

Long-term cropping systems productivity

Error bars (SE±) indicate standard error for each crop yield

0 200 400 600 800 1000 12000

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Mungbean grain yield probabilities with MS-MS

mungbean Grain yield (kg ha-1)

Prob

abili

ty

Probability of rainy season sorghum and mung bean grain yields from 15 years

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 70000

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Rainy season sorghum grain yield probabilities with SCP-SCP systems

Nitrogen_0 Nitrogen_40 Nitrogen-80 Nitrogen-120

Grain yield (kg ha-1)

Prob

abili

ty

Average uptake of Nitrogen in a cropping systems

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

N-0 N-40

N-80

N-120

FS-FS MS-MS FS-FCP SCP-SCP

0

50

100

150

200

250mungbean sorghum chickpea

Cropping systems

Crop

mea

n up

take

of N

(kg

ha-1

two-

year

ro

tatio

n-1)

Error bars indicate SE± for the crops mean uptake in two-year rotation

Cropping system

Crops Systems of two-year rotationWUE (kg ha-1 mm-1)

N0 N 40 N 80 N120

SCP-SCP Rainy sorghum 11.4 18.6 21.8 23.2

chickpea

MS-MS Mung bean 9 12 13.8 14

PR. sorghum

FS-FS PR. sorghum 4.4 8.6 10.2 11.8

FCP-FS Chickpea- 5.6 7.5 9.3 9.4

PR. sorghum

Mean water use efficiency (WUE) for crops and rotation

Water Use Efficiency of systems

FS-FS MS-MS FS-FCP SCP-SCP0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000N-0

Gro

ss re

turn

s (R

s. h

a-1

two-

year

rota

tion-

1)

Gross returns

FS-FS MS-MS FS-FCP SCP-SCP0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

N-80

mungbean sorghum sorghum fodderchickpea

Cropping systems

Gro

ss re

turn

s (R

s. h

a-1

rota

tion

cycl

e-1)

Gross returns increased in N-0 with MS-MS exceeded by Rs 22,000 and with SCP-SCP exceeded by Rs. 30,000 in two-year rotation.

Gross returns increased in N-80 with MS-MS exceeded by Rs 30,000 and with SCP-SCP by Rs. 34,000 in two-year rotation.

Double cropping with MS-MS or SCP-SCP replacing fallows improves WUE between 19%-165% at same N level across systems.

Farmers’ gross returns increase by Rs.22000-25000 ha-1 two-year rotation-1 at N-0 over traditional fallow systems.

Yield response to applied Nitrogen increased by 2-3 fold in rainy season crops as well as post-rainy crops in the systems.

Post-rainy season cereal or legume that follows a cereal in rainy season require N application to utilize water more efficiently .

Adopting opportune double cropping on dryland Vertisols enhances productivity and additional N uptake of 30 kg N ha-1 y-1 by crops in N-0 for 15 years.

Summary

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