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 5-year study was conducted under different tillage,
crop establishment methods and balanced nutrient management
practices showed that MWMb system productivity
was recorded highest in zero till permanent (PB) plots and lowest in conventional tilled (CT) plots. PB and ZT plots registered
18.3% and 22.3% higher 5-year pooled MEY compared
to CT-Control, respectively. Similar to tillage effects the
nutrient management effect on MEY of MWMb rotation was
also significant (P< 0.05) for all the 5-years where significantly
higher yield was obtained in site specific nutrient management
(SSNM) plots compared to other nutrient management
plots. Tillage and nutrient management practices also
had significant (P<0.05) effect on MWMb system pooled
average water use efficiency and economics in 5-years of
study. The year-wise cost of cultivation for different crops in
MWMb system was almost similar in PB and ZT but was
lower than CT plots. PB and ZT plots registered maximum
MWMb system pooled average WUE (1.019 -1.131 USnetreturns/ha−mm),netreturns(US 1819-1891/ha) and benefit
cost ratio (1.68-1.73), respectively. Similar to tillage effects,
the nutrient management also significantly (P<0.05) affected the MWMb system pooled average WUE and economics.
Significant (P<0.05) increase in MWMb WUE and economics
was recorded in SSNM and RDF for pooled average system
WUE (30-35%), net returns (31-38%), and BC ratio (31-
32%), compared to FFP treatments, respectively. However,
SSNM and RDF nutrient management treatments remained statistically at par with respect to system WUE, net returns
and BC ratio. Thus, adoption of conservation tillage (ZT/PB)
practices with improved balanced nutrient management
(SSNM/RDF) could be a viable option for achieving higher
biomass productivity, water and energy-use efficiency and
profitability in MWMb system.Not Availabl
