This document discusses resource conservation techniques in the rice-wheat cropping system. It outlines some of the major issues with the current rice-wheat system including decreased water use efficiency, soil organic matter decline, and multi-nutrient deficiencies. It then describes various resource conservation techniques for both rice and wheat such as system of rice intensification (SRI), alternate wetting and drying (AWD), zero-tillage, and happy seeder technology. It concludes that adopting resource conservation techniques can help mitigate challenges in the rice-wheat system by saving resources, increasing productivity and profits, and improving soil health in a sustainable manner.

1. RESOURCE CONSERVATION
TECHNIQUES IN RICE-WHEAT
CROPPING SYSTEM
To:
Prof. S K Rajpoot
Submitted by:
Anil Ram (19212AGC176)
Deep Prabha (19212AGC181)
Gajraj Meena (19212AGC183)
Krishna Paul (19212AGC185)
Mahaveer Danga (19212AGC186)
Course:- AGR-224: Farming System and Sustainable Agriculture
Department of Agronomy

2. 🌾 RICE-WHEAT CROPPING SYSTEM (RWCS)
● The rice-wheat cropping system is the dominant double cropping system in south
Asian countries that occupies about 13.5 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic
Plains (IGP).
● This system covers about 33% of the total rice area and 42% of the total wheat
area in the four countries.
● Rice - wheat cropping system is labour -
water -capital - energy intensive and
becomes less profitable as these
resources diminishes.
● Threat to sustainable food production has
resulted due to the continued adoption of
exhaustive rice-wheat cropping system.

3. 🌾 Emerging issues in RWCS
Ecological issue
Groundwater pollution
Diverse weed flora
Outbreak of diseases and
insect-pest
Livelihood issue
Decreased water use
efficiency
Decreased land productivity
Poor incomes
Climatic issues
Environment pollution
Global warming
Declining groundwater
table
Agricultural issue
Decline in SOM
Multi-nutrient deficiency
Declining crop response
Labour shortage

4. 🌾What is RCT?
● The techniques that helps to conserve those resources on which sustainability depends are known as
Resource conservation techniques. So, RCT include all those techniques and practices that help in
conserving our resources.
● RCTs are the practices, when followed results in saving of energy, cost and also reduces the
environmental pollution over the conventional practices.
🌾What are the possibilities of RCTs in RWCS?
● Improved input-use-efficiency
● Increased productivity and sustainability
● Decreased cost of production
● Decreased weed flora
● Improved soil health
● Resource improvement

5. RCTs for rice RCTs for wheat
LCC(leaf colour chart)
SRI(system of rice
intensification)
AWD(alternate wetting and
drying)
DSR(direct seeded rice)
Brown manuring
Aerobic rice
Zero tillage
FIRBS (furrow irrigated raised bed
system)
SWI(System of wheat
intensification)
Surface seeding
Laser land levelling

6. Leaf colour chart(LCC)
➔ A simple handy,pocket tool which consists of 6 strips of
different shades of green from pale green to dark green.
➔ Measures leaf colour intensity which is related to ‘N’ status,
thus help farmers determine right timing of ‘N’ application.
➔ Ten leaves are selected and readings are taken at 7-10
days intervals (early tillering, active tillering, panicle
initiation and first flowering).

7. System of Rice Intensification(SRI)
➔ SRI is a low-water, labor-intensive method that
uses younger seedlings singly spaced and
typically hand weeded with special tools.
➔ Gives higher yield (50% more) with low seed
(80-90% reduction) and low water (25-50%
reduction).
➔ shift from chemical fertilizer to organic manure

8. Alternte wetting and drying(AWD)
➔ a water-saving technology (saves water upto 30%)
➔ In AWD, irrigation water is applied a few days after the
disappearance of the ponded water. Hence,
the field gets alternately flooded and non-flooded.
➔ AWD also reduces GHGs emission .
Benefits of
AWD
Greenhouse
gas mitigation
potential
Increased net
return for farmers

9. Brown manuring
➔ Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeata) is grown in standing rice crop and knocked
down by spraying 2,4 D at 25-30 days after sowing.
➔ It reduces weed population by nearly half without any adverse effect on
rice yield.
➔ Sesbania surface mulch decomposes very fast to supply Nitrogen.

10. Direct seeded rice(DSR)
➔ Rice is sown directly in dry soil (dry seeding) or wet soil (wet seeding), and irrigation is given to keep
the soil sufficiently moist for good plant growth ,but the soil is never flooded.

11. nursery raising, puddling, seepage and
percolation are eliminated.
Labour required for nursery raising, uprooting
and transplanting of seedlings are saved.
Equipments used for land preparation and irrigation
are not used
As fertilizers are applied to the root zone.
As it reduces less water

12. Aerobic Rice
➔ Introduced by IRRI mainly for addressing water crisis.
➔ In this method, Rice is grown in non-puddled, non-
flooded and non-saturated aerobic soil condition
under Irrigation and high inputs.
➔ It is an alternate strategy, which combines the
characteristics of both upland varieties with less
water requirement and irrigated varieties with high
response to inputs.
➔ Irrigation, only when soil becomes dry
➔ Aerobic rice should be responsive to
high inputs (water,nutrients) to reach high
Yields.
➔ Saves water upto 35-45%

13. ● Also called NO TILLAGE
● Crops are sown without
performing tillage
operations.
RCT in Wheat-
Zero Tillage

14. ➔ Excess moisture after harvest of rice leads to delayed sowing of wheat
➔ Seeds of wheat are broadcasted (about a week before harvesting) or on
wet/muddy soil (after rice harvest).
Advantages:
➔ No equipments are needed
➔ Suitable where land preparation is difficult and
costly
Precautions
➔ Less moisture prevents germination and excess
moisture leads to rotting of seeds, so the level of
moisture is the key.
Surface seeding

15. Furrow Irrigated Raised Bed System(FIRBS)
● In this method , wheat is sown on raised beds accommodating 2-3 rows of wheat.
● Bed planting reduces the population of Phalaris minor on the top of the bed.
● Bed planting reduce the lodging.
● Less seed and nutrient requirement by 25 % .
● Good for irrigation as well as for drainage .
● Less water requirement by 30-40 %

16. System Of Wheat Intensification (SWI)
● New practice of wheat cultivation using principles of SRI
● For poor and marginal community such as eastern IGP
● Wide spacing (25cmx25cm) of plants for better light and air utilization
● Require less seed rate but more labour intensive
● Better aeration of soil using cono weeder

17. Laser land levelling(LLL)
➔ It is a process of smoothening the land surface within ±2 cm of its average
micro-elevation.
LLL
Energy
saving
Reduces
Cultivation
time
Improves
Input use
Efficiency
Uniform
Water
Distribution
Less run-off of
nutrients
Reduced green house
gas emission
Increased
WUE
Increased
Fertilizer use
Efficiency
LLL

18. From the report, it is clear that SRI is the best RCTs in rice over other RCTs
and FIRB in wheat.

19. ➢ crop residues are good sources of plant nutrients heavy and are important components for
the stability of agricultural ecosystems
➢ About 25% of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), 50% of sulfur (S), and 75% of potassium
(K) uptake by cereal crops are retained in crop residues, making them valuable nutrient
sources.
Legume Crop Residues and Green Manures
➢ In northwestern India, short-duration legumes (e.g., mungbean and cowpea) can be grown in
the fallow period after wheat harvest.
➢ In the rice wheat system, incorporation of mungbean residue after picking pods, significantly
increases rice yield and saves 60 kg N per ha.
➢ Green manures are a valuable potential source of N and organic matter.
➢ Green manuring also increases the availability of several other plant nutrients through its favourable
effect on chemical, physical, and biological properties of soil.
Crop Residue management in RWCS

20. Happy seeder
● New approach in solving the problems of direct drilling of wheat into heavy
rice residues.
● Happy Seeder consists of a straw managing unit and a sowing unit in one
composite machine.
● Happy Seeder technology (HST) provided an alternative to stubble burning

21. Effect of crop Residue management on the productivity of Rice-
wheat cropping sysyem
Treatments Grain yield (t/ha)
Rice Wheat Total
Removed 4.02 4.09 8.11
Burnt 4.14 4.14 8.24
Incorporated 4.47 4.57 9.04
CD(P=0.05) 0.44 0.40 0.487

22. ❏ RCT can be proved as a one solution for all emerging challenges in RWCS
most importantly it helps in mitigating global warming challenges.
❏ It has lead to saving of resources,inputs and increased profitability with
improvement of soil health, thus it can be called as a sustainable method of
crop cultivation.
❏ RCTs are more effective when used in combined form rather than individual
application.

23. References:-
Scribd.com (Prof. S K Rajpoot )- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU
Slideshare.net - Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU
Researchgate- rubia rasool, PAU (Punjab Agricultural University)
R K Malik, A. Yadav, Shavinder singh
Link.springer.com- Acharya, C.L., Subba Rao, A., Biswas, A.K., Reddy, K.S., Yadav, R.L., Dwivedi, B.S., Shukla, A.K.,
Singh, V.K. and Sharma, A.K. (2003).Institute of Soil Science (ICAR), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), India. Google Scholar
Blake, R.O. (1992). Sustainable and increased food production. Agric. Syst. 40: 7–19. Google Scholar
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