Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint

In the high-yielding wheat production systems in Northwest (NW) Indo-Gangetic Plains of India, intensive tillage operations and blanket fertilizer recommendations have led to high production costs, decreased nutrient use efficiency, lower profits and significant environmental externalities. No-tilla...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sapkota, Tek Bahadur, Majumdar, Kaushik, Jat, Mangi Lal, Kumar, Arvind, Bishnoi, D.K., McDonald AJ, Pampolino M
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52153
_version_ 1855540779116658688
author Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
Majumdar, Kaushik
Jat, Mangi Lal
Kumar, Arvind
Bishnoi, D.K.
McDonald AJ
Pampolino M
author_browse Bishnoi, D.K.
Jat, Mangi Lal
Kumar, Arvind
Majumdar, Kaushik
McDonald AJ
Pampolino M
Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
author_facet Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
Majumdar, Kaushik
Jat, Mangi Lal
Kumar, Arvind
Bishnoi, D.K.
McDonald AJ
Pampolino M
author_sort Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In the high-yielding wheat production systems in Northwest (NW) Indo-Gangetic Plains of India, intensive tillage operations and blanket fertilizer recommendations have led to high production costs, decreased nutrient use efficiency, lower profits and significant environmental externalities. No-tillage (NT) has been increasingly adopted in this region to reduce costs and increase input use efficiency. But, optimal nutrient management practices for NT based wheat production are still poorly understood. Opportunities exist to further enhance the yield, profitability, and resource use efficiency of NT wheat through site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). On-farm trials were conducted in seven districts of Haryana, India for two consecutive years (2010–11 and 2011–12) to evaluate three different approaches to SSNM based on recommendations from the Nutrient Expert® (NE) decision support system in NT and conventional tillage (CT) based wheat production systems. Performance of NE based recommendations was evaluated against current state recommendations and farmers’ practices for nutrient management. Three SSNM treatments based on NE based recommendation were (1) ‘NE80:20’ with 80% N applied at planting and 20% at second irrigation (2) ‘NE33:33:33’ with N split as 33% basal, 33% at Crown Root Initiation (CRI) and 33% at second irrigation; and (3) ‘NE80:GS’ with N split as 80% basal and further application of N based on optical sensor (Green Seeker™)-guided recommendations. Yield, nutrient use efficiency and economic profitability were determined following standard agronomic and economic measurements and calculations. Cool Farm Tool (CFT), an empirical model to estimate greenhouse gases (GHGs) from agriculture production, was used to estimate GHG emissions under different treatments. Wheat grain and biomass yield were higher under NT in 2010–11 but no difference was observed in 2011–12. The three NE-based nutrient management strategies increased yield, nutrient use efficiency as well as net return as compared to state recommendation and farmers’ fertilization practice. Global warming potential (GWP) of wheat production was also lower with NT system as compared to CT system and NE-based nutrient managements as compared to farmers’ fertilization practice. State recommended nutrient management had similar GWP as NE-based nutrient managements except NE80:GS in which GWP was the lowest. Results suggest that no-tillage system along with site-specific approaches for nutrient management can increase yield, nutrient use efficiency and profitability while decreasing GHG from wheat production in NW India.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace52153
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace521532024-05-01T08:19:45Z Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint Sapkota, Tek Bahadur Majumdar, Kaushik Jat, Mangi Lal Kumar, Arvind Bishnoi, D.K. McDonald AJ Pampolino M climate agriculture wheats nutrient management tillage greenhouse gases In the high-yielding wheat production systems in Northwest (NW) Indo-Gangetic Plains of India, intensive tillage operations and blanket fertilizer recommendations have led to high production costs, decreased nutrient use efficiency, lower profits and significant environmental externalities. No-tillage (NT) has been increasingly adopted in this region to reduce costs and increase input use efficiency. But, optimal nutrient management practices for NT based wheat production are still poorly understood. Opportunities exist to further enhance the yield, profitability, and resource use efficiency of NT wheat through site-specific nutrient management (SSNM). On-farm trials were conducted in seven districts of Haryana, India for two consecutive years (2010–11 and 2011–12) to evaluate three different approaches to SSNM based on recommendations from the Nutrient Expert® (NE) decision support system in NT and conventional tillage (CT) based wheat production systems. Performance of NE based recommendations was evaluated against current state recommendations and farmers’ practices for nutrient management. Three SSNM treatments based on NE based recommendation were (1) ‘NE80:20’ with 80% N applied at planting and 20% at second irrigation (2) ‘NE33:33:33’ with N split as 33% basal, 33% at Crown Root Initiation (CRI) and 33% at second irrigation; and (3) ‘NE80:GS’ with N split as 80% basal and further application of N based on optical sensor (Green Seeker™)-guided recommendations. Yield, nutrient use efficiency and economic profitability were determined following standard agronomic and economic measurements and calculations. Cool Farm Tool (CFT), an empirical model to estimate greenhouse gases (GHGs) from agriculture production, was used to estimate GHG emissions under different treatments. Wheat grain and biomass yield were higher under NT in 2010–11 but no difference was observed in 2011–12. The three NE-based nutrient management strategies increased yield, nutrient use efficiency as well as net return as compared to state recommendation and farmers’ fertilization practice. Global warming potential (GWP) of wheat production was also lower with NT system as compared to CT system and NE-based nutrient managements as compared to farmers’ fertilization practice. State recommended nutrient management had similar GWP as NE-based nutrient managements except NE80:GS in which GWP was the lowest. Results suggest that no-tillage system along with site-specific approaches for nutrient management can increase yield, nutrient use efficiency and profitability while decreasing GHG from wheat production in NW India. 2014-01 2014-12-16T06:37:36Z 2014-12-16T06:37:36Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52153 en Limited Access Elsevier Sapkota TB, Majumdar K, Jat ML, Kumar A, Bishnoi DK, McDonald AJ, Pampolino M. 2014. Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint. Field Crops Research 155:233–244.
spellingShingle climate
agriculture
wheats
nutrient management
tillage
greenhouse gases
Sapkota, Tek Bahadur
Majumdar, Kaushik
Jat, Mangi Lal
Kumar, Arvind
Bishnoi, D.K.
McDonald AJ
Pampolino M
Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title_full Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title_fullStr Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title_full_unstemmed Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title_short Precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of Northwest India: Profitability, nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
title_sort precision nutrient management in conservation agriculture based wheat production of northwest india profitability nutrient use efficiency and environmental footprint
topic climate
agriculture
wheats
nutrient management
tillage
greenhouse gases
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/52153
work_keys_str_mv AT sapkotatekbahadur precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT majumdarkaushik precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT jatmangilal precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT kumararvind precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT bishnoidk precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT mcdonaldaj precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint
AT pampolinom precisionnutrientmanagementinconservationagriculturebasedwheatproductionofnorthwestindiaprofitabilitynutrientuseefficiencyandenvironmentalfootprint