Role of conservation agriculture in sustaining soil quality

Role of conservation agriculture in sustaining soil quality

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  Role of ConservationAgriculture for Sustaining Soil Quality Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture G.B.P.U.A.&T. Pantnagar –263 145, Uttarakhand 1 SHIV SINGH MEENA ( ID NO. 49631 )
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  CONTENTS Introduction a. What isconservation Agriculture? b. History of Conservation Agriculture (CA) c. Principles of conservation agriculture d. Benefits of conservation agriculture  Why does conservation agriculture represent a new paradigm/why conservation agriculture is important? Different practices of conservation agriculture.  Impact of CA on Soil Quality Conclusion 22
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  Conservation agriculture (CA)as described by FAO : A concept for resource saving agricultural crop production which is based on enhancing natural and biological process above and below the ground. What is conservation agriculture? 3
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  Issues Traditional Agriculture Conservation agriculture PracticeDisturbs the soil and leaves a bare surface Minimum soil disturbance and soil surface permanently covered Erosion Wind and water soil erosion maximum Minimum Soil physical health Poor Good Compaction Reduces compaction by tillage operation Compaction can be a problem but use of mulch and promotion of biological tillage helps to reduce this problem Soil biological health Poor due to frequent disturbance More diverse and healthy biological properties and populations Water infiltration Lowest after soil pores clogged Best water infiltration Traditional V/S Conservation Agriculture 7
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  Issues Traditional Agriculture Conservation agriculture Soilorganic matter Oxidizes soil organic matter and causes its loss Soil organic build-up in the surface layers even better than TA Soil temperature Surface soil temperature more variable Moderated variable Fuel use and cost High Low Production costs High Low Yield Can be lower where planting delayed Yields same as TA but can be highest if planting is done more timely 8 Contd.
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  Major three principlesof CA 10
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  1. CA aimsto conserve, improve and make more efficient use of natural resources through integrated management of available soil, water and biological resources combined with external inputs. CA goals defined by FAO as follows 2. It contributes to environmental conservation as well as to enhanced and sustained agricultural production 3. It can also be referred to as resource efficient or resource effective agriculture 11
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  AGRONOMIC BENEFITS ECONOMIC BENEFITS Timesaving and less labour requirement Higher efficiency Reduction of costs ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS  Reduction in soil erosion  Improvement of water quality Improvement of air quality  Biodiversity increase  carbon sequestration Benefits of CA  Improvement of soil productivity Organic matter increase Soil water conservation  Improvement of soil structure 12
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  Why CA representa new paradigm? 1. Extra CO2 emission into atmosphere 405.6 ppm 13
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  Sl. No. Agency/OrganizationYear Total Area of degraded land estimated (Mha) 1 National Commission on Agriculture, Govt. of India (NCA-GOI) 1976 175.0 2 Society for Promotion of Waste Land Development 1984 129.58 3 National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad 1985 53.3 4 Ministry of Agriculture 1985 173.6 5 National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) 1994 187.7 6 National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) 2007 114.01 Statistics on land degradation in India (Bhattacharyya et al, 2015) 2. Land Degradation 14 Contd.
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  Sl. No Type of degradationArea in Mha Percentage of total degraded land 1. Wind and Water Erosion 94.87 79 2. Acidic soil 17.93 15 3. Alkaline soil 3.70 3 4. Saline soil 2.73 1.8 5. Water logged 0.91 1 6. Mining & Industrial waste 0.26 0.2 Total 120.40 100.0 Land Degradation Scenario of India-2010-11 (ICAR, 2011) 15 Contd.
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  16 3. High HillyAnd Mountainous Area in country 16
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  4. Soil organicmatter reduction 5. Soil contamination 6. Soil compaction 17 Contd.
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  8. Decline insoil biodiversity 9. Salinization 10. Floods and land slides 7. Lesser storage of water in the soil profile 18
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  Different practices ofconservation agriculture 1. Managing Topography Contour Farming Strip Farming Terracing Waterways 19
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  It is anytillage and planting system that maintains at least 30% of the soil surface covered by residues after planting to reduce water erosion or where erosion is the primary concern maintain at least 1000 kg/ha of small grain residues equivalent on the surface during the critical wind erosion period. The Conservation Technology Information Centre (CTIC) 2. Conservation tillage 20
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  Types of conservationtillage No tillage or Zero tillage Soil is completely left undisturbed from harvest to planting except sowing and nutrient application. Weed control is only by herbicides. Reduced tillage Little soil disturbance before sowing to break the crust, loosen compact soil and prepare seedbed. Weed control by herbicides or some secondary tillage. Mulch tillage Tillage is practiced only to sow the crop, equipments don't bury the crop residues. Weed control by herbicides or some secondary tillage. 21
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  Ploughing Disking Field cultivation Planting Earthing up Field Cultivation Planting Planting ConservationTillage Operations in different tillage practices 22
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  3. Providing SoilCover A. Mulching Prevent splash erosion by heavy rains and surface runoff Improves soil texture by adding O.M. B. Cover crops Recycling nutrients and water Enhance microbial activity 23
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  4. Crop Rotation In crop rotation land is fixed but crop is rotated year after year.  Maintains and even improve soil fertility.  It checks the soil erosion and conserves moisture.  The rotation of crops offer a diverse "diet" to the soil micro organisms. 24
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  Planting stick ‘Jobbe’Jab planter 5. Direct Planting 6. Permanent raised bed 25
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  7. Animal Husbandry Livestockproduction can be integrated by recycling of nutrients. Forage crops can be used for fodder and soil cover. Controlled grazing is essential 26
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  8. Specialized Equipments BedPlanter LASER Land Leveler No-Till Cotton Planter Animal-Drawn Direct Seeder 27
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  Star-wheel punch planter 28
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  29 Sweet pepper Cassava OnionsCucumber Tomato Squash JoseBenites, FAO CA is applicable to virtually all crops 29
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  Conservation Agriculture and Soil quality 30
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  Soil quality is… “the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation.” (Karlen et al., 1997) 31
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  Soil Quality Indicators Physical  Chemical  Biological Chemical PhysicalBiological 32
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  Porosity Bulk Density Hydraulic Conductivity Infiltration SoilTemperature Effect on Physical Quality 33
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  Effect of residueretained on Water Stability of Aggregates and porosity under M-W cropping system Naresh et al (2012)U.P., Sandy loam 34
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  Effect of soildepth and tillage practices on total porosity of soil 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0-10 10 ̵ 20 20-30 Totalporosity(%) Soil depth (cm) No tillage Conventional tillage Jin et al (2011) a a a a b b China, Silt loam 35
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  Bulk density (Mgm-3) as affected by rate of mulching Ram et al (2013) Ludhiana, Loamy sand 36
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  1.3 1.35 1.4 1.45 1.5 1.55 0 ̵ 1010 ̵ 20 20 ̵ 30 ρb(Mgm-3) Soil depth (cm) No tillage Conventional tillage Effect of tillage treatments on soil bulk density (ρb) Jin et al (2011) a b a b a a China, Silt loam 37
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  Effect of tillageon infiltration rate Jammu, Sandy loam Sharma et al (2009) 38
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  Effect of moistureconservation techniques on infiltration rate (cm/hr) Sharma et al (2009)Jammu, Sandy loam 39
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  Infiltration rate (cmday-1) of texturally different soils under CT and ZT Singh et al (2014)Haryana 40
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  Changes in soilinfiltration rate within 120 min. under NT and CT treatments Jin et al (2009)China, Silt loam 41
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  Effect of tillageon moisture content (%) in different soil layers Jin et al (2009)China, Silt loam 42
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  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 ̵ 1515 ̵ 30 Ks(cmday-1) Soil depth (cm) NT CT Effect of tillage treatments on saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil (Ks) Jin et al (2009) a a a b China, Silt loam 43
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  Effect on ChemicalQuality Soil Reaction Redox Potential and Electrical Conductivity Soil Organic matter Soil Macronutrient and Micronutrient 44
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  Effect of differentcrop residue management practices on the soil Mandal et al. (2004) Chemical properties of soil Residue Incorporated Removed Burnt pH 7.7 7.6 7.6 EC (dSm-1) 0.18 0.13 0.13 Organic Carbon (%) 0.75 0.59 0.69 Available N kg/ha 154 139 149 Available P (kg/ha) 45 38 32 Available K (kg/ha) 85 56 77 45
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  Mulch effect onsoil organic carbon (%) Ram et al (2013)Ludhiana, Loamy sand 46
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  S. No systemsCarbon stored (ton/acre) A By Management system 1 Crop land 0.107 2 Crop/grassland conversion 0.397 3 Trees /wetland conversion 0.209 4 Cultivation of organic soil -3.52 B By tillage system 1 Intensive tillage 0.042 2 Minimum tillage 0.169 3 No tillage 0.223 C-sequestration potential of different agricultural practices (Smith et al., 2002) 47
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  Impacts of tillagesequence on SOC after 6 yrs. of rainfed cropping at Indian Himalayas Bhattacharyya et al. 201248 48
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  Almost 50% moreOC in the no-till site 0- to 30cm -12 years No-Till Brazil, 2010 Source = FAO Soil organic carbon for the 12 years of NT and CT sites 49
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  Land use systemSoil loss(t/ha) Runoff % Nutrient loss (N%) Eucalyptus – Bhabar grass 0.07 0.05 0.46 A. Catechu – forage grass 0.24 2.00 6.97 Sesame – rape seed 2.69 20.50 42.50 Poplar – Leucaena 1.54 4.80 5.90 Cultivated fallow 5.65 23.0 51.30 (Grewal, 1993) Effects of vegetative barriers on runoff, soil loss and N loss 50
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  Microbial Population Enzymatic Activity MicrobialBiomass C and N Carbon and Nitrogen mineralization 51
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  52 on the Pampasof Argentina – 12 years zero till Roberto Pieretti 3 years no-till on a Russian chernozem Improved soil biodiversity… 52
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  Treatment Dehydrogena se (µgTPF g soil -1 24 h-1) Alkali- phosphatase (µg PNPg -1 h-1) Soil Respiration (mg CO2 1000 g soil-1 week-1) Microbial carbon biomass (µg g soil -1) Cropping System Maize-wheat 8.78 269 16.22 456 Pigeonpea-wheat 11.95 296 17.82 668 Soybean-wheat 15.66 295 17.71 553 Groundnut-wheat 25.43 276 15.23 508 Cotton –wheat 10.39 274 18.15 491 CD (P=0.05) 0.812 6.2 1.79 3.05 Tillage and residue management CT – R 9.37 263 19.40 428 CT + R 15.31 272 13.64 559 ZT - R 12.99 296 18.52 519 ZT + R 20.10 298 16.54 634 CD (P=0.05) 0.688 5.9 1.023 2.9 Soil biological parameters as influenced by tillage and crop establishment practices in a wheat based cropping systems 53Singh et al., 2011
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  SOC and MBCin maize–mustard system (15 cm) under different tillage practices Saha et al.,2010 CD (p=0.05) 54
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  Treatment Organic carbon (%) SMBC (μg/gsoil ) Earthworm Population(ha) Conventional tillage 1.47 91.3 60,000 Minimum tillage 2.17 121.3 100,000 No-till 2.51 134.1 380,000 CD (p=0.05) 0.78 12.1 - SOC, MBC and Earthworm under different tillage practices at the end of four cropping cycles Cropping cycles Maize–mustard Upland rice–mustard Rice bean–mustard Soybean–mustard Ghosh et al., 2010 55
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  CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE AND CROP PRODUCTION 56
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  Wheat growth, yieldand yield attributes under different tillage conditions (average of 3 years) U.P., Sandy loam Kumar et al (2013) 57
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  Happy Seeder androtavator technology for in situ management of paddy straw and wheat yield Singh et al (2013) 58
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  Effect of mulchrate on grain yield of wheat Iqbal et al (2011)Pakistan, Sandy Loam 59
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  Effect of establishmenttechniques on grain yield and irrigation WUE of wheat IARI, Sandy loam Choudhury et al (2011) 60
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  Effect of sowingmethods on grain yield, water use efficiency and net returns of rice Balasubramanian and Krishnarajan (2000)Coimbatore, Clay loam 61
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  Constraints for adoptionof CA Lack of appropriate seeders especially for small and medium scale farmers. The wide spread use of crop residues for livestock feed and as fuel . Burning of crop residues. Lack of knowledge about the potential of CA to Agril. leaders, extension agents & farmers.  Compaction can be a problem in initial stage of conservation agriculture 62
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  Conclusion Conservation agriculture playsan important role in maintaining soil physical, chemical and biological properties and thus ensuring the goal of sustaining soil quality. Conservation agriculture also helps in improving the crop production in a sustainable manner thus there is an intense need of conservation agriculture which will not only meet the present and future demand of ever increasing population, but also arrest degradation of environmental quality. As it is a new paradigm for agricultural research so still there is a scope of development and improvement in the concept of conservation agriculture. 63
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