Responses of onion growth and yield to different planting dates and land management practices

Received: September 10th, 2021 ; Accepted: November 3rd, 2021 ; Published: November 15th, 2021 ; Correspondence: [email protected] varieties of onion (Allium cepa L.) are believed to be well adopted to agroecological conditions of their respective growing region but their lower productivity is a concern to be addressed. The variety ‘Safid e Paisaye’ was selected for this investigation due to its long storability and higher market demand. The present study was carried out at Agriculture Research Farm of Kabul University to study the influence of land management practices and planting dates on growth and yield of onion. Different agronomic traits including number of leaves per plant, leaf length, leaf area per plant, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), maturity period, marketable yield and total yield were studied in these trials. The recorded data were statistically analysed with R software. The planting dates had significant influence on growth and yield of onions. At 90 days after sowing, the highest number of leaves per plant (7.18), leaf length (30.07 cm), leaf area per plant (277.43 cm2 ), leaf area index (0.93) and NDVI (0.29) were recorded for the first planting date (10th May). Similarly, the longest maturity period (176.44 days) and highest marketable yield (37.01 t ha-1 ) and total yield (40.08 t ha-1 ) were also observed under the first planting date. Land management practices did not have significant effect on growth and maturity period of onions. However, the marketable yield was influenced by tillage depth and land preparation. The deep tillage and flatbed recorded highest marketable yield of 38.58 t ha-1 and 26.9 t ha-1 , respectively. The results of the study indicate that, early planting was more appropriate to get vigorous and high yielding onions. The deep ploughed flatbeds were appropriate to get higher marketable yield of onions

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Not AvailableThe maize-wheat-mungbean (MWMb) cropping system is being advocated as an alternative to the traditional rice-based cropping systems of north-western Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) to address the issues of energy and nutritional scarcity, residue burning, decline in biomass productivity and water tables. In semi-arid regions, the climate-change-induced variability in rainfall and temperature may have an impact on phenological responses of cereals and pulses which in turn would affect biomass production, economic yield and energy and water-use efficiency (WUE) of the crops. Henceforth, quantification of bioequivalent yields, energy requirement, economics and WUE of MWMb system is essentially required owing to have better understanding of this cropping system. Following a 4-year study was conducted under different tillage and nutrient management. ZT and PB plots had significantly higher pooled average (17.2e20.3%) biomass productivity, (34.4e39.8%) net returns and (49.8e66.2%) biomass water-use efficiency with lesser (8.5e16.1%) water-use than the CT plots. Significantly higher pooled bioenergetic yields (21.7e35.2%), net returns (31.4e37.8%) and biomass water-use efficiency (30.1e35.2%) was observed in SSNM/Ad-hoc plots compared with FFP plots. The total pooled energy input in ZT/PB and SSNM/Ad-hoc plots was significant (P < 0.05) higher than CT and FFP plots, respectively, with greater net energy output, energy productivity and energy efficiency. The interactions between tillage and nutrient management practices on pooled input energy and energy productivity of MWMb system was significant (P < 0.05). Thus, adoption of conservation tillage (ZT/PB) practices with improved nutrient management (SSNM/Ad-hoc) could be a viable option for achieving higher biomass productivity, water and energy-use efficiency and profitability in MWMb system.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableMaize-based crop rotations are advocated as alternate to rice-based systems in South Asia due to better suitability for diverse ecologies, higher yields with less water use and more palatable maize fodder compared to rice, and increased demand of maize from piggery and poultry industries. Alternate tillage and crop establishment practices are important management strategies for tackling the issues of soil health deterioration and over exploitation of underground water resources, particularly in rice based intensive crop rotations. The conservation agriculture (CA) based tillage and crop establishment practices such as zero tillage (ZT) and permanent raised beds (PB) hold potential to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC), physical and biological properties for sustainability of soil health. Therefore, a long term study was conducted to evaluate the twelve combinations of tillage practices (03) and irrigated intensive maize based crop rotations (04) on organic carbon, physical properties and microbial biomass and enzymatic activities of a sandy loam (Typic Haplustept) soil in north-western India. The tillage practices consisted of ZT, PB and conventional tillage (CT) in main plots and four diversified intensive maize based crop rotations (MWMb: Maize-Wheat-Mungbean, MCS: Maize-Chickpea-Sesbaina, MMuMb: Maize-Mustard-Mungbean, MMS: Maize-Maize-Sesbania) in sub plots. In this study we analysed the SOC, physical and biological properties of soil at various depths after 7 years of continuous ZT, PB and CT in diversified maize rotations. Compared to CT plots, the soil physical properties like water stable aggregates (WSA) > 250 μm were 16.1-32.5% higher, and bulk density (BD) and penetration resistance (PR) showed significant (P < 0.05) decline (11.0–14.3 and 11.2–12.0%) in ZT and PB plots at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layers. The soil organic carbon (SOC) increased by 34.6-35.3% at 0–15 cm, and 23.6-26.5% at 15–30 cm soil depths with conservation agriculture (ZT and PB) based crop establishment techniques over CT. Similarly, the soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) under CA based systems increased by 45–48.9% in 0–30 cm profile depth of a sandy loam (Typic Haplustept) soil. Significant (P < 0.05) improvement in soil enzymatic activities i.e., Fluorescein diacetate, dehydrogenase, β Glucosidase and Alkaline phosphatase was also recorded in the CA based treatments. Significant (P < 0.05) synergistic effects of summer legumes (mungbean and Sesbania) with winter legume/cereal in crop rotations were observed on SOC,WSA, BD, PR and Ksat at 0–15 and 15–30 cm depths. Interaction between tillage and crop rotations were significant (P < 0.05) for soil organic carbon, physical properties and enzymatic activities. Thus our long-term study suggests that CA based crop management with selected diversified maize based rotations (MCS and MWMb) can be advocated as sustainable intensification strategy in light textured soils of north-western India and other similar agro-ecologies of South Asia.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableMaize-based crop rotations are advocated as alternate to rice-based systems in South Asia due to better suitability for diverse ecologies, higher yields with less water use and more palatable maize fodder compared to rice, and increased demand of maize from piggery and poultry industries. Alternate tillage and crop establishment practices are important management strategies for tackling the issues of soil health deterioration and over exploitation of underground water resources, particularly in rice based intensive crop rotations. The conservation agriculture (CA) based tillage and crop establishment practices such as zero tillage (ZT) and permanent raised beds (PB) hold potential to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC), physical and biological properties for sustainability of soil health. Therefore, a long term study was conducted to evaluate the twelve combinations of tillage practices (03) and irrigated intensive maize based crop rotations (04) on organic carbon, physical properties and microbial biomass and enzymatic activities of a sandy loam (Typic Haplustept) soil in north-western India. The tillage practices consisted of ZT, PB and conventional tillage (CT) in main plots and four diversified intensive maize based crop rotations (MWMb: Maize-Wheat-Mungbean, MCS: Maize-Chickpea-Sesbaina, MMuMb: Maize-MustardMungbean, MMS: Maize-Maize-Sesbania) in sub plots. In this study we analysed the SOC, physical and biological properties of soil at various depths after 7 years of continuous ZT, PB and CT in diversified maize rotations. Compared to CT plots, the soil physical properties like water stable aggregates (WSA) > 250mm were 16.1-32.5% higher, and bulk density (BD) and penetration resistance (PR) showed significant (P < 0.05) decline (11.0–14.3 and 11.2–12.0%) in ZT and PB plots at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layers. The soil organic carbon (SOC) increased by 34.6-35.3% at 0–15 cm, and 23.6-26.5% at 15–30 cm soil depths with conservation agriculture (ZT and PB) based crop establishment techniques over CT. Similarly, the soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) under CA based systems increased by 45–48.9% in 0–30 cm profile depth of a sandy loam (Typic Haplustept) soil. Significant (P < 0.05) improvement in soil enzymatic activities i.e., Fluorescein diacetate, dehydrogenase, b Glucosidase and Alkaline phosphatase was also recorded in the CA based treatments. Significant (P < 0.05) synergistic effects of summer legumes (mungbean and Sesbania) with winter legume/cereal in crop rotations were observed on SOC,WSA, BD, PR and Ksat at 0–15 and 15–30 cm depths. Interaction between tillage and crop rotations were significant (P < 0.05) for soil organic carbon, physical properties and enzymatic activities. Thus our long-term study suggests that CA based crop management with selected diversified maize based rotations (MCS and MWMb) can beNot Availabl

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Not AvailableIncreasing scarcity of resources (labour, water, and energy) and cost of production, along with climate variability, are major challenges for the sustainability of rice–wheat system in the northwesten Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). We hypothesized that adopting the principles of conservation agriculture together with best crop management practices would improve system productivity and overall efficiency, resulting in a higher profitability. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the performance of four cropping system scenarios (treatments), which were designed to be adapted to current and future drivers of agricultural changes. The treatments including farmers practices varied in tillage and crop establishment methods,residue management, crop sequence, and crop management. Zero-tillage direct-seeded rice (ZT-DSR)with residue retention and best management practices provided equivalent or higher yield and 30–50%lower irrigation water use than those of farmer-managed puddled transplanted rice (CT-TPR). Overall,net economic returns increased up to 79% with a net reduction in production cost of up to US$ 55 ha−1 in ZT-DSR than CT-TPR. Substituting rice with ZT maize was equally profitable but with 88–95% less irrigation water use. Avoiding puddling in rice and dry tillage in maize with residue retention increased yield (by 0.5–1.2 t ha−1) and net economic returns of the succeeding wheat crop. Inclusion of mungbean in the rotation further increased system productivity and economic returns. In summary, our initial results of 2-year field study showed positive effects of CA-based improved management practices on yield and system efficiencies with greater benefits in the second year. There is a need of longer term monitoring to quantify cumulative effects of various interventions and to eventually make recommendations for wider dissemination.Not Availabl

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