Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges & Opportunities
during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
total cost of cultivation of Rs 7265.69 ha -1 and increased the profit by 13171.07 ha -1 . Zero
tillage method also recorded higher bbenefit cost ratio was 2.34 as compared to conventional
tillage method i.e. 1.70.
Resource conservation and rainfed agriculture
T4a-10R-1235
Nutrient Dynamics in Conservation Agriculture under Rainfed Conditions
P. S. Prabhamani, H. B. Babalad, R. K. Patil and Geetha Shirnalli
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India – 580 005
Wide spread degradation of natural resources in rainfed areas and climate change are
threatening the national food security. This has brought about focus on rainfed ecology which
has been now affected has very low level of sustainability. In rainfed regions, Conservation
agriculture (CA) has been proposed as a widely adapted set of management principles that
can assure more sustainable agricultural production. Agro-ecology specific conservation
agriculture strategies are needed in rainfed production systems that have the scope in saving
time, reduced cost of production and increase soil carbon sequestration and nutrient
stratification. Conservation tillage is a widely-used terminology in CA to denote soil
management systems that result in at least 30 per cent of the soil surface being covered with
crop residues after seeding of the subsequent crop. This helps to improve the soil organic
carbon (SOC), physical, chemical and biological properties. Tillage, residue management and
crop rotation have a significant impact on nutrient distribution and transformation in soil
(Sharma et al., 2021). The experiment was conducted with objective to study the effect of
conservation tillage practices on soil physical properties and nutrient dynamics in groundnutsorghum
cropping system under rainfed conditions.
Methodology
A field experiment was initiated on a fixed site during 2013-14 at Main Agricultural Research
Station, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad and after four years of experimentation
the results were discussed in this article. The experiment was laid out in strip block design
with six different tillage practices in three replications [CT1: No tillage with BBF (broad bed
and furrows) and crop residues retained on the surface, CT 2: Reduced tillage with BBF and
partial incorporation of crop residues, CT 3: No tillage with flat bed (FB) and crop residues
retained on the surface, CT4: Reduced tillage with FB and partial incorporation of crop
residues, CT 5: Conventional tillage with crop residues incorporation and CT 6: Conventional
tillage with no application of crop residues as control]. Rotavator was passed for shredding
and partial incorporation of residue treatment plots and to shred the residues and retention on
the surface rotaslasher was passed, in conventional tillage with crop residue incorporation
plot residues were incorporated at the time of ploughing where as in no residue plots all the
crop residues were removed after the harvesting and land was ploughed.
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