Enhancing maize yield in a conservation agriculture-based maize (Zea mays)- wheat (Triticum aestivum) system through efficient nitrogen management

C.M. Parihar Hari Sankar Nayak Dipaka Ranjan Sena Shankar Lal Jat Mahesh Gathala Upendra Singh (2023, [Artículo])

This study evaluated the impact of contrasting tillage and nitrogen management options on the growth, yield attributes, and yield of maize (Zea mays L.) in a conservation agriculture (CA)-based maize-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) system. The field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2020 and 2021 at the research farm of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. The experiment was conducted in a split plot design with three tillage practices [conventional tillage with residue (CT), zero tillage with residue (ZT) and permanent beds with residue (PB)] as main plot treatments and in sub-plots five nitrogen management options [Control (without N fertilization), recommended dose of N @150 kg N/ha, Green Seeker-GS based application of split applied N, N applied as basal through urea super granules-USG + GS based application and 100% basal application of slow release fertilizer (SRF) @150 kg N/ha] with three replications. Results showed that both tillage and nitrogen management options had a significant impact on maize growth, yield attributes, and yield in both seasons. However, time to anthesis and physiological maturity were not significantly affected. Yield attributes were highest in the permanent beds and zero tillage plots, with similar numbers of grains per cob (486.1 and 468.6). The highest leaf area index (LAI) at 60 DAP was observed in PB (5.79), followed by ZT(5.68) and the lowest was recorded in CT (5.25) plots. The highest grain yield (2-year mean basis) was recorded with permanent beds plots (5516 kg/ha), while the lowest

was observed with conventional tillage (4931 kg/ha). Therefore, the study highlights the importance of CA practices for improving maize growth and yield, and suggests that farmers can achieve better results through the adoption of CA-based permanent beds and use of USG as nitrogen management option.

Green Seeker Urea Super Granules CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MAIZE UREA YIELDS ZERO TILLAGE NITROGEN

Gender dynamics of weed management under conservation agriculture: Insights from the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia

Hom Nath Gartaula (2021, [Objeto de congreso])

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA GENDER WEED CONTROL CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE ZERO TILLAGE

Changes in soil organic carbon pools after 15 years of Conservation Agriculture in rice (Oryza sativa)-wheat (Triticum aestivum) cropping system of eastern Indo-Gangetic plains

C.M. Parihar Mahesh Gathala ML JAT (2023, [Artículo])

The present study was carried out at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar during 2021-2023 to focus on examining alterations in SOC pools resulting from conservation agriculture (CA) practices in R-W system in the eastern IGP, following the collection of soil samples from a long-term trial that was initiated in rainy (kharif) season 2006. The trial included eight combinations, namely: conventional tilled rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (CTR-CTW); CT rice and zero till wheat (CTR-ZTW); direct seeded rice (DSR) and wheat on permanent raised beds (PBDSR-PBW); ZTDSR and CT Wheat (ZTDSR-CTW); ZTDSR and ZT wheat without residue (ZTDSR-ZTW-R); ZTDSR-ZT wheat with residue (ZTDSR-ZTW +R); unpuddled transplanted riceZTW (UpTR-ZTW) and ZTDSR-sesbania brown manure-ZTW (ZTDSR-S-ZTW). Results revealed that implementing zero tillage (ZT) combined with residue retention in rice and wheat cultivation led to enhanced levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) across all four fractions, namely very labile (CVL), labile (CL), less labile (CLL), and non-labile (CNL), in comparison to the continuous and rotational tillage practices. The tillage and residue management options significantly affected the lability index (LI) and C pool index (CPI), with zero-tillage and residue retention leading to lower LI and higher CPI values. The management practices significantly affected the C management index (CMI), with zero-tillage and residue retention showing the highest CMI values. Findings showed the potential of CA practices for enhancing soil C quality as well as C sequestration in soil of the Eastern IGP of India.

Carbon Management Index Soil Organic Carbon Fractions CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE SOIL ORGANIC CARBON ZERO TILLAGE

Efficacy of pre- and post-emergence herbicide combinations on weed control in no-till mechanically transplanted rice

PRATEEK MADHAB BHATTACHARYA Apurba Chowdhury Tapamay Dhar Md. Saiful Islam Alison Laing Mahesh Gathala (2022, [Artículo])

Mechanized Transplanted Rice Weed Biomass Weed Density Weed Control Efficiency CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA HERBICIDES WEED CONTROL RICE ZERO TILLAGE MECHANIZATION

Optimization of N dose in rice under conservation agriculture with sub-surface drip fertigation

C.M. Parihar Hari Sankar Nayak Renu Pandey Avinash Kumar ML JAT (2021, [Artículo])

Biological Yield Economic N Dose Yield Attributes CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA YIELDS NITROGEN ZERO TILLAGE DIRECT SOWING RICE

Unanswered questions and unquestioned answers: the challenges of crop residue retention and weed control in Conservation Agriculture systems of southern Africa

Christian Thierfelder Blessing Mhlanga Hambulo Ngoma Paswel Marenya Md Abdul Matin Adane Tufa (2024, [Artículo])

Production and utilization of crop residues as mulch and effective weed management are two central elements in the successful implementation of Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems in southern Africa. Yet, the challenges of crop residue availability for mulch or the difficulties in managing weed proliferation in CA systems are bigger than a micro-level focus on weeds and crop residues themselves. The bottlenecks are symptoms of broader systemic complications that cannot be resolved without appreciating the interactions between the current scientific understanding of CA and its application in smallholder systems, private incentives, social norms, institutions, and government policy. In this paper, we elucidate a series of areas that represent some unquestioned answers about chemical weed control and unanswered questions about how to maintain groundcover demanding more research along the natural and social sciences continuum. In some communities, traditional rules that allow free-range grazing of livestock after harvesting present a barrier in surface crop residue management. On the other hand, many of the communities either burn, remove, or incorporate the residues into the soil thus hindering the near-permanent soil cover required in CA systems. The lack of soil cover also means that weed management through soil mulch is unachievable. Herbicides are often a successful stopgap solution to weed control, but they are costly, and most farmers do not use them as recommended, which reduces efficacy. Besides, the use of herbicides can cause environmental hazards and may affect human health. Here, we suggest further assessment of the manipulation of crop competition, the use of vigorously growing cover crops, exploration of allelopathy, and use of microorganisms in managing weeds and reducing seed production to deplete the soil weed seed bank. We also suggest in situ production of plant biomass, use of unpalatable species for mulch generation and change of grazing by-laws towards a holistic management of pastures to reduce the competition for crop residues. However, these depend on the socio-economic status dynamics at farmer and community level.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA INTEGRATED CROP-LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS CROP RESIDUES ZERO TILLAGE SOCIAL NORMS SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION WEED CONTROL

Editorial: Conservation agriculture: knowledge frontiers around the world

Stéphane Cordeau ML JAT Cameron Pittelkow Christian Thierfelder (2023, [Artículo])

No-Tillage Direct Seeding Cover Crops Crop Diversification CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA COVER PLANTS DIVERSIFICATION CROPPING SYSTEMS DIRECT SOWING ZERO TILLAGE

Weed management and tillage effect on rainfed maize production in three agro-ecologies in Mexico

Simon Fonteyne Abel Jaime Leal González Rausel Ovando Ravi Gopal Singh Nele Verhulst (2022, [Artículo])

Maize (Zea mays L.) is grown in a wide range of agro-ecological environments and production systems across Mexico. Weeds are a major constraint on maize grain yield, but knowledge regarding the best weed management methods is lacking. In many production systems, reducing tillage could lessen land degradation and production costs, but changes in tillage might require changes in weed management. This study evaluated weed dynamics and rainfed maize yield under five weed management treatments (pre-emergence herbicide, post-emergence herbicide, pre-emergence + post-emergence herbicide, manual weed control, and no control) and three tillage methods (conventional, minimum and zero tillage) in three agro-ecologically distinct regions of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2016 and 2017. In the temperate Mixteca region, weeds reduced maize grain yields by as much as 92% and the long-growing season required post-emergence weed control, which gave significantly higher yields. In the hot, humid Papaloapan region, weeds reduced maize yields up to 63% and pre-emergence weed control resulted in significantly higher yields than treatments with post-emergence control only. In the semi-arid Valles Centrales region, weeds reduced maize yields by as much as 65%, but weed management was not always effective in increasing maize yield or net profitability. The most effective weed management treatments tended to be similar for the three tillage systems at each site, although weed pressure and the potential yield reduction by weeds tended to be higher under zero tillage than minimum or conventional tillage. No single best option for weed management was found across sites or tillage systems. More research, in which non-chemical methods should not be overlooked, is thus needed to determine the most effective weed management methods for the diverse maize production systems across Mexico.

Corn Integrated Weed Management Manual Weed Control CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA MAIZE WEED CONTROL MINIMUM TILLAGE ZERO TILLAGE

Using Sentinel-2 to track field-level tillage practices at regional scales in smallholder systems

Preeti Rao ML JAT Balwinder-Singh Deepak Bijarniya Urs Schulthess Rajbir Singh Meha Jain (2021, [Artículo])

Sentinel-2 Random Forest Google Earth Engine CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SATELLITES ZERO TILLAGE CONVENTIONAL TILLAGE SMALLHOLDERS

Bacterial communities in the rhizosphere at different growth stages of maize cultivated in soil under conventional and conservation agricultural practices

Yendi Navarro-Noya Bram Govaerts Nele Verhulst Luc Dendooven (2022, [Artículo])

Farmers in Mexico till soil intensively, remove crop residues for fodder and grow maize often in monoculture. Conservation agriculture (CA), including minimal tillage, crop residue retention and crop diversification, is proposed as a more sustainable alternative. In this study, we determined the effect of agricultural practices and the developing maize rhizosphere on soil bacterial communities. Bulk and maize (Zea mays L.) rhizosphere soil under conventional practices (CP) and CA were sampled during the vegetative, flowering and grain filling stage, and 16S rRNA metabarcoding was used to assess bacterial diversity and community structure. The functional diversity was inferred from the bacterial taxa using PICRUSt. Conservation agriculture positively affected taxonomic and functional diversity compared to CP. The agricultural practice was the most important factor in defining the structure of bacterial communities, even more so than rhizosphere and plant growth stage. The rhizosphere enriched fast growing copiotrophic bacteria, such as Rhizobiales, Sphingomonadales, Xanthomonadales, and Burkholderiales, while in the bulk soil of CP other copiotrophs were enriched, e.g., Halomonas and Bacillus. The bacterial community in the maize bulk soil resembled each other more than in the rhizosphere of CA and CP. The bacterial community structure, and taxonomic and functional diversity in the maize rhizosphere changed with maize development and the differences between the bulk soil and the rhizosphere were more accentuated when the plant aged. Although agricultural practices did not alter the effect of the rhizosphere on the soil bacterial communities in the flowering and grain filling stage, they did in the vegetative stage.

Community Assembly Functional Diversity Intensive Agricultural Practices Plant Microbiome CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TILLAGE SOIL BACTERIA MAIZE