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Not AvailableConserving soil moisture in the rainfed region is a challenging task as it plays a significant role in crop productivity and livelihood security of rainfed farmers. The soil moisture conservation practices (MCPs) coupled with the addition of root augmenting nutrition are crucial for sustaining crop yields and maintaining soil phosphorus (P) in a rainfed Vertisol of Central India. Thus, a study was conducted to evaluate the long-term effect of MCPs and P application in maize–chickpea in a Vertisol. A five-year study showed that the MCPs integrated with P nutrition significantly helped in growing chickpea (Cicer arietinum) without irrigation or with limited irrigation. Under the normal rainfall conditions such as normal onset time, distribution and cessation time during the experimentation, the MCPs proved useful in obtaining chickpea yields in the range of 776 to 933 kg ha-1. The best MCP was the practice of late intercultural operations ? Gliricidia cover in the inter-row spaces of standing maize (@ 5 t ha-1 fresh weight basis) ? maize stover application (after sowing up to germination), which recorded higher chickpea grain yield (932 kg ha-1) on account of higher moisture content in the soil and reduced stress in the plants. Another comparable treatment was Gliricidia cover ? one pre-sowing irrigation of 6 cm for chickpea, which recorded 933 kg ha-1 of chickpea yield. Both the treatments recorded significantly higher yields than the under control (637 kg ha-1). We also found that the application of Gliricidia cover on the soil surface coupled with either pre-sowing irrigation and/or late intercultural operations had beneficial effect on soil physical conditions increasing soil moisture which in turn affected the crop growth. Under normal monsoon years, the best treatments (MCP4 and MCP5) recorded around 46% higher chickpea yield as compared to the control. It is concluded that these soil MCPs are very useful in rainfed areas for sustaining crop yield. Keyword Soil management , Moisture consNot Availabl

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Not AvailableVertisols occur extensively in central India and have high production potentials. Because of the high clay content (40-60% or more), high bulk density (1.5-1.8 Mg m-3) and related properties, these soils have high moisture storage capacity. Conversely, these soils become very hard when dry and very sticky when wet. Since last two decades, scientists, farmers and also the policy makers have been striving to manage these soils through harnessing the beneficial attributes as well as overcoming the production constraints. Some of the potential options are efficient surface land configuration and crop diversification. Field experiments were conducted at the Research Farm at Bhopal to evaluate the land surface configuration and crop diversification. Results of our experiment on vertisols showed a considerable reduction in run off of water and also soil loss from broadbed and furrow (BBF) compared to flat-on-grade (FOG) during rainy season and at the same time crop productivity was significantly improved in BBF. It enhanced yield of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), maize (Zea mays L.), pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) as sole and as well as intercropping and sole chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) by about 12.7-20.0% over FOG. The yield of crops (soybean, maize and pigeonpea), expressed as soybean equivalent yield, was compared and it showed an improvement in yield from different intercropping systems on BBF. The residual effect of rainy season crops on succeeding chickpea was not significant; however, its yield in two irrigation (one pre-sowing plus one post-sowing) was significantly greater than pre-sowing irrigation only in both land configurations. Water use efficiency (WUE) of chickpea was more under BBF than FOG. The study elucidates the constraints and potentials of vertisol for crop production especially with reference to central India and effective ways to improve crop productivity through land surface modification and crop diversification.Not Availabl

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Pedotransfer functions to estimate soil water content at field capacity and permanent wilting point in hot arid western India

Characterization of soil water retention, e.g., water content at field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) over a landscape plays a key role in efficient utilization of available scarce water resources in dry land agriculture; however, direct measurement thereof for multiple locations in the field is not always feasible. Therefore, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) were developed to estimate soil water retention at FC and PWP for dryland soils of India. A soil database available for Arid Western India (N=370) was used to develop PTFs. The developed PTFs were tested in two independent datasets from arid regions of India (N=36) and an arid region of USA (N=1789). While testing these PTFs using independent data from India, root mean square error (RMSE) was found to be 2.65 and 1.08 for FC and PWP, respectively, whereas for most of the tested ‘established’ PTFs, the RMSE was >3.41 and >1.15, respectively. Performance of the developed PTFs from the independent dataset from USA was comparable with estimates derived from ‘established’ PTFs. For wide applicability of the developed PTFs, a user-friendly soil moisture calculator was developed. The PTFs developed in this study may be quite useful to farmers for scheduling irrigation water as per soil type

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Not AvailableCharacterization of soil water retention, e.g., water content at field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) over a landscape plays a key role in efficient utilization of available scarce water resources in dry land agriculture; however, direct measurement thereof for multiple locations in the field is not always feasible. Therefore, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) were developed to estimate soil water retention at FC and PWP for dryland soils of India. A soil database available for Arid Western India (N=370) was used to develop PTFs. The developed PTFs were tested in two independent datasets from arid regions of India (N=36) and an arid region of USA (N=1789). While testing these PTFs using independent data from India, root mean square error (RMSE) was found to be 2.65 and 1.08 for FC and PWP, respectively, whereas for most of the tested ‘established’ PTFs, the RMSE was >3.41 and >1.15, respectively. Performance of the developed PTFs from the independent dataset from USA was comparable with estimates derived from ‘established’ PTFs. For wide applicability of the developed PTFs, a user-friendly soil moisture calculator was developed. The PTFs developed in this study may be quite useful to farmers for scheduling irrigation water as per soil type.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableEnhancing crop productivity with higher input use efficiency without any damage to the soil and water resources is a big challenge to Indian agriculture. Soil is a complex system having physical, chemical and biological properties which differ from soil type to soil type. These properties/characteristics play an important role in deciding the response of any management imposed and thus ultimately govern the soil productivity and inputs use efficiency. It is, therefore, important that before developing any technology for the judicious use of inputs, these characteristics including soil-water-plant relations are well understood. In the recent past various advancements have been made to understand the various soil physical processes and the flow mechanism of water, gases and heat into and from the soil profile which affects the soil environment and the atmosphere above it. Different models have been developed with an attempt to solve many problems related to complex and dynamic soil-water-tillage-nutrient-plant system. Also, techniques have been developed for rapid and precise estimation of various kinds of abiotic stresses which have a bearing on plant growth, grain yield and judicious use of various inputs in agriculture in order to arrive at sustainable and conservation agriculture. Our knowledge on the subject, however, is still limited owing to the complex nature of the soil system. There is need to study this dynamic system in-depth in multidisciplinary mode, including the root system architecture with respect to water and nutrient uptake and mitigation of various kinds of plant abiotic and biotic stresses. This paper discusses, in brief, the various advancements made in the area of soil physics and their impact on sustainable agriculture.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableSustainable crop production under rainfed condition can be achieved by conservation of excess rainwater and its efficient recycling. The rainwater can be conserved ex-situ in natural or man-made water harvesting structures. In-situ conservation of rainwater can be achieved through various tillage and landform treatments. A field experiment was conducted for three years from 2003–04 to 2005–06 on a Vertisol (Typic Haplustert) in a mini-watershed at the research farm of the Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal to study the effect of broad bed and furrow (BBF) and flat on grade (FOG) land management treatments on the runoff and soil loss, and to evaluate the productivity of five soybean and maize based sole and intercropping systems under the two land management treatments. The results showed that runoff and soil losses from BBF were lower by 24–32% and 31–55%, respectively, than that from the FOG treatment during the study period. Further, the BBF retained 14 to 23 mm higher soil water in 90 cm soil profile during the later phase of crop growth after the withdrawal of monsoon and produced higher crop yield than the FOG treatment. The total system productivity was found to be higher in maize than soybean based cropping systems in two out of three years of the study. The study provides an option for crop diversification from the present soybean-wheat system to maize-chickpea, soybean/maize-chickpea or maize/pigeon pea intercropping system for the Vertisols of central India.Not Availabl