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Conventional agriculture is energy and carbon intensive. Single and double-crop basis residue-mulching in zero-tilled crop-sequences may minimize carbon-footprint with improved crop and energy productivity in water-scarce ecologies. Zn-fertilization is also vital for drought-stress tolerance besides enhanced productivity and quality in Zn-deficient arid-soils. Hence, we compared the single and double-crop basis residue-mulching alongwith Hydrogel and Zn-fertilization in zero-tilled pigeonpea-wheat system. Results showed that double-crop residue-mulching + Hydrogel exhibited ∼22.3 and 17.1% higher system-productivity over no-residue and single-crop residue-mulching plots while maintaining higher net-returns (1315 US$/ha). Crop-residue covering consumed considerable energy (77.3–89.1% of total consumption) and carbon (5–10 folds). Thick residue-cover (8 t/ha/year) under double-crop residue-mulching + Hydrogel exhibited significantly higher energy-output (238,328 MJ ha−1), energy-intensiveness (107.3 MJ/US$) and specific energy (20.15 MJ kg−1) compared to single-crop residue-mulching; whereas energy-use efficiency, energy productivity and profitability were higher under no-residue cover. Zn-fertilization (5 kg ha−1) alongwith Zn-solubilizer in both crops also enhanced the biomass and energy productivity over sole-Zn or no-Zn. Interestingly, carbon footprints increased with residue-covering (4–8 t/ha/year) while least under no-residues. Therefore, farmers should preserve a balance while mulching the residues in single or both crops besides necessitating Zn-fertilization in Zn-deficient arid and semi-arid regions where livestock equally competes for residues as quality fodder.
Adarsh Kumar; K.S. Rana; Anil K. Choudhary; R.S. Bana; V.K. Sharma; Shiv Prasad; Gaurendra Gupta; Mukesh Choudhary; Amaresh Pradhan; Sudhir K. Rajpoot; Abhishek Kumar; Amit Kumar; Vishal Tyagi. Energy budgeting and carbon footprints of zero-tilled pigeonpea–wheat cropping system under sole or dual crop basis residue mulching and Zn-fertilization in a semi-arid agro-ecology. Energy 2021, 231, 120862 .
AMA StyleAdarsh Kumar, K.S. Rana, Anil K. Choudhary, R.S. Bana, V.K. Sharma, Shiv Prasad, Gaurendra Gupta, Mukesh Choudhary, Amaresh Pradhan, Sudhir K. Rajpoot, Abhishek Kumar, Amit Kumar, Vishal Tyagi. Energy budgeting and carbon footprints of zero-tilled pigeonpea–wheat cropping system under sole or dual crop basis residue mulching and Zn-fertilization in a semi-arid agro-ecology. Energy. 2021; 231 ():120862.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAdarsh Kumar; K.S. Rana; Anil K. Choudhary; R.S. Bana; V.K. Sharma; Shiv Prasad; Gaurendra Gupta; Mukesh Choudhary; Amaresh Pradhan; Sudhir K. Rajpoot; Abhishek Kumar; Amit Kumar; Vishal Tyagi. 2021. "Energy budgeting and carbon footprints of zero-tilled pigeonpea–wheat cropping system under sole or dual crop basis residue mulching and Zn-fertilization in a semi-arid agro-ecology." Energy 231, no. : 120862.
‘Participatory-mode’ adaptive research was conducted in wheat in north-western Himalayas (NWH) during 2008–2014 to develop an improved chemical weed management (ICWM) technology. First of all, two years ‘on-farm experimentation’ was performed in a randomized block design at 10 locations in NWH using seven treatments (Clodinafop @ 60 g a.i./ha (Clod); Clod followed by 2,4-D (Na-salt) @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha (Clod-fb-D); Isoproturon 75 WP @ 1.0 kg a.i./ha (Iso); Iso + D; Sulfosulfuron 75% WG @ 25 g a.i./ha + Metsulfuron 5% WG @ 2 g a.i./ha (Sulf + Met); weed-free-check; and un-weeded-check). In this study, the post-emergence application of Sulf + Met reported the lowest weed-index and NPK depletion by weeds with higher weed control efficiency (86.4%), weed control index (81.1%) and herbicide efficiency index (2.62) over other herbicides. Sulf + Met exhibited significantly higher wheat productivity (3.57 t/ha), protein yield, net-returns and water-productivity, which was followed by Iso + D and Clod-fb-D, all of which remained statistically at par with each other. An impact assessment of intensive technology-transfer programme (2008–2014) revealed a higher technology adoption rate (71–98%) of ICWM leading to higher wheat productivity (~22%) and net income gains (2.8–26.4%) in NWH. Overall, Sulf + Met proved highly effective against mixed weed flora in wheat to boost wheat productivity, profitability, quality and water productivity in addition to a higher technology adoption rate and NIGs to transform rural livelihoods in NWH.
Anil Choudhary; D.S. Yadav; Pankaj Sood; Shakuntla Rahi; Kalpana Arya; S.K. Thakur; Ramesh Lal; Subhash Kumar; Jagdev Sharma; Anchal Dass; Subhash Babu; R.S. Bana; D.S. Rana; Adarsh Kumar; Sudhir Rajpoot; Gaurendra Gupta; Anil Kumar; Harish M.N.; A.U. Noorzai; G.A. Rajanna; Mohammad Khan; V.K. Dua; Raj Singh. Post-Emergence Herbicides for Effective Weed Management, Enhanced Wheat Productivity, Profitability and Quality in North-Western Himalayas: A ‘Participatory-Mode’ Technology Development and Dissemination. Sustainability 2021, 13, 5425 .
AMA StyleAnil Choudhary, D.S. Yadav, Pankaj Sood, Shakuntla Rahi, Kalpana Arya, S.K. Thakur, Ramesh Lal, Subhash Kumar, Jagdev Sharma, Anchal Dass, Subhash Babu, R.S. Bana, D.S. Rana, Adarsh Kumar, Sudhir Rajpoot, Gaurendra Gupta, Anil Kumar, Harish M.N., A.U. Noorzai, G.A. Rajanna, Mohammad Khan, V.K. Dua, Raj Singh. Post-Emergence Herbicides for Effective Weed Management, Enhanced Wheat Productivity, Profitability and Quality in North-Western Himalayas: A ‘Participatory-Mode’ Technology Development and Dissemination. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (10):5425.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnil Choudhary; D.S. Yadav; Pankaj Sood; Shakuntla Rahi; Kalpana Arya; S.K. Thakur; Ramesh Lal; Subhash Kumar; Jagdev Sharma; Anchal Dass; Subhash Babu; R.S. Bana; D.S. Rana; Adarsh Kumar; Sudhir Rajpoot; Gaurendra Gupta; Anil Kumar; Harish M.N.; A.U. Noorzai; G.A. Rajanna; Mohammad Khan; V.K. Dua; Raj Singh. 2021. "Post-Emergence Herbicides for Effective Weed Management, Enhanced Wheat Productivity, Profitability and Quality in North-Western Himalayas: A ‘Participatory-Mode’ Technology Development and Dissemination." Sustainability 13, no. 10: 5425.
Sulfur (S) fertilization is essentially required for improving the crop productivity and oil content especially in legume oilseeds like groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) in south-Asian soils most of which are S-deficient. Apart from S, zinc (Zn) is also deficient in south-Asian soils. Thus, Zn-fertilization may prove as a cost-effective and sustainable approach to produce Zn-biofortified groundnut kernels to combat Zn-malnutrition besides enhanced oil, protein and kernel productivity. Hence, a field experiment was conducted on S- and Zn-fertilization in groundnut using 3 S-levels (0, 20, 40 kg/ha), 4-Zn levels (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 kg/ha) and 2 Zn-biofertilizer levels (control and Zn-biofertilizer) in a split-plot design replicated thrice in a south-Asian semi-arid environment. Application of 40 kg S/ha significantly improved the pod and kernel yield, oil content and oil yield, protein content and protein yield in groundnut. Zn-application substantially improved the pod and kernel yield, oil yield and protein yield upto 5 kg Zn/ha; while further increase to 7.5 kg/ha considerably declined the pod and kernel yield, oil and protein yield. Application of 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 kg Zn/ha led to 7.8, 17 and 26.4% increase in Zn-content in groundnut kernels over control; however, 5.0 kg Zn/ha proved superior for harnessing higher Zn uptake at different growth stages and in different plant parts at harvest. Zn-biofertilizer enhanced the pod yield by ∼5%. Interaction effects stressed upon supplementing 2.5 kg Zn/ha with Zn-biofertilizer in harnessing groundnut productivity equivalent to sole use of 5 kg Zn/ha. Application of 40 kg S/ha and 5 kg Zn/ha enhanced pod productivity by 31.6 and 21.2%, respectively over control. Overall, dual application of 40 kg S/ha and 5 kg Zn/ha may prove highly beneficial to enhance the pod and kernel productivity, quality with Zn-biofortified groundnut kernels besides improving human and animal health in S and Zn-deficient south-Asian alluvial soils.
Heba M. Noman; D. S. Rana; Anil K. Choudhary; Anchal Dass; G. A. Rajanna; Pooja Pande. Improving productivity, quality and biofortification in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) through sulfur and zinc nutrition in alluvial soils of the semi-arid region of India. Journal of Plant Nutrition 2020, 44, 1151 -1174.
AMA StyleHeba M. Noman, D. S. Rana, Anil K. Choudhary, Anchal Dass, G. A. Rajanna, Pooja Pande. Improving productivity, quality and biofortification in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) through sulfur and zinc nutrition in alluvial soils of the semi-arid region of India. Journal of Plant Nutrition. 2020; 44 (8):1151-1174.
Chicago/Turabian StyleHeba M. Noman; D. S. Rana; Anil K. Choudhary; Anchal Dass; G. A. Rajanna; Pooja Pande. 2020. "Improving productivity, quality and biofortification in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) through sulfur and zinc nutrition in alluvial soils of the semi-arid region of India." Journal of Plant Nutrition 44, no. 8: 1151-1174.
Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is a major spice crop in India in general and north-western (NW) Himalayas in particular where it is grown mostly organic by default using biennial local strains having low productivity. This crop is becoming an alternate crop in monkey–menace areas in NW Himalayas transferring into gigantic fallow-lands otherwise. There is a dire need to boost turmeric productivity in the region by introducing high yielding turmeric cultivars (HYTCs). Thus, an extensive ‘On–farm’ experimentation was done at 10 locations in 6 monkey–menace affected community-development-blocks (CBDs) (Sadar, Sundernagar, Dharampur, Gopalpur, Seraj and Gohar) of the randomly selected district–Mandi of the randomly selected Himalayan province–Himachal Pradesh as the study area. For this purpose, two newly released annually harvested HYTCs (Palam Pitamber and Palam Lalima) alongwith a widely grown local strain ‘Suketi Haldi’ in NW Himalayas (as check), were planted alongwith organic manure i.e. FYM @ 20 t ha–1 on oven dry weight basis. Mean data of two years revealed that Palam Pitamber resulted in highest rhizome yield (32.94 t ha–1) followed by Palam Lalima (32.35 t ha–1) compared to biennially harvested ‘Suketi Haldi’ (12.45 t ha–1). Likewise, Palam Pitamber resulted in highest net returns and net B: C ratio ( 416,548 ha–1; 5.38) followed by Palam Lalima and Suketi Haldi, respectively. The curcumin content was higher in ‘Suketi Haldi’ (5.18%), but the curcumin yield was significantly higher in Palam Pitamber and Palam Lalima. The monetary-efficiency indices revealed that organic turmeric cultivation using HYTCs may fetch about 1243–1270 ha−1 day−1 to the Himalayan farmers. Overall, the turmeric rhizome yield was enhanced by about three–folds, profitability by 3–4 folds, resource-use efficiency (RUE) by 2–3 folds in terms of production– and monetary efficiency, water-use efficiency and partial factor productivity of applied nutrients (NPK) by the adoption of HYTCs coupled with FYM @ 20 t ha–1 over ‘Suketi Haldi’. Higher technology adoption rate (72–98%) and net income gains (2.3–2.5 folds) in the study area advocated for employing ‘Participatory-mode’ adaptive research methodologies following intensive technology transfer programme in remote hill agro-ecologies. In nutshell, the newly developed HYTCs exhibited great potential in boosting the turmeric productivity, profitability, curcumin yield and RUE vis-à-vis wider adaptability in monkey–menace areas to improve rural livelihoods and make organic turmeric cultivation a promising agri–entrepreneurship in NW Himalayas. Download high-res image (861B)Download full-size image
Anil K. Choudhary; Shakuntla Rahi. Organic cultivation of high yielding turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) cultivars: a viable alternative to enhance rhizome productivity, profitability, quality and resource-use efficiency in monkey–menace areas of north-western Himalayas. Industrial Crops and Products 2018, 124, 495 -504.
AMA StyleAnil K. Choudhary, Shakuntla Rahi. Organic cultivation of high yielding turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) cultivars: a viable alternative to enhance rhizome productivity, profitability, quality and resource-use efficiency in monkey–menace areas of north-western Himalayas. Industrial Crops and Products. 2018; 124 ():495-504.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnil K. Choudhary; Shakuntla Rahi. 2018. "Organic cultivation of high yielding turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) cultivars: a viable alternative to enhance rhizome productivity, profitability, quality and resource-use efficiency in monkey–menace areas of north-western Himalayas." Industrial Crops and Products 124, no. : 495-504.
The introduction of high-yielding varieties, intensive cultivation systems, micronutrient-free fertiliser application, non-addition of organic manures and imbalanced plant nutrition has led to multi-micronutrient deficiencies in soils in many parts of the globe. Importance of micronutrients can be realised from their incredible functions in plants that result in quality produce, as each essential micronutrients play some specific functions in plants. Availability of micronutrients to plants is regulated by various soil factors such as texture, soil reaction, organic matter, clay content, soil moisture, nutrient interactions in soil, microbial activity, redox potential and aeration, etc. Research has, however, clearly indicated a sharp increase in micronutrient uptake and yield of crops by alleviating soil conditions through proper management practices, liming and applying micronutrients directly in soil or as foliar application. Moreover, exploitation of soil microbes such as micronutrient solubilisers and AM fungi has proven as boon in micronutrient uptake and improving soil quality. Maintenance of optimum soil organic matter status and balanced fertilisation or soil test-based fertiliser application also lead to biofortified farm produce, eliminate micronutrient deficiency and improve soil and plant health.
Anil Kumar; Anil K. Choudhary; Vijay Pooniya; Vinod K. Suri; Ummed Singh. Soil Factors Associated with Micronutrient Acquisition in Crops- Biofortification Perspective. Biofortification of Food Crops 2016, 159 -176.
AMA StyleAnil Kumar, Anil K. Choudhary, Vijay Pooniya, Vinod K. Suri, Ummed Singh. Soil Factors Associated with Micronutrient Acquisition in Crops- Biofortification Perspective. Biofortification of Food Crops. 2016; ():159-176.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnil Kumar; Anil K. Choudhary; Vijay Pooniya; Vinod K. Suri; Ummed Singh. 2016. "Soil Factors Associated with Micronutrient Acquisition in Crops- Biofortification Perspective." Biofortification of Food Crops , no. : 159-176.
An investigation was undertaken at New Delhi, India during 2011–2013 to assess the agro-economic potentiality of four promising high-value crops’ imbedded diversified intensive cropping systems (DICS) in order to diversify the cereal–cereal based rotations and owning maximum profitability in Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGPR) production systems. Cowpea–potato–mungbean (C–P–Mb) system proved as best viable option in realizing highest system-productivity in terms of mungbean-equivalent-yield (MEY), water-productivity and energy-relationships besides enhancing soil physico-chemical and microbiological properties; followed by Kharif onion–wheat–mungbean (O–W–Mb) system. C–P–Mb system also observed significantly highest net-returns, production and monetary-efficiencies. Application of 75 % recommended NPK (RDF) + vermicompost (VC) @ 5 t ha−1 registered highest system-productivity (MEY) and production-efficiency followed by 100 % RDF, respectively. Application of 75 % RDF + VC @ 5 t ha−1 also registered higher available N, P, soil–organic–carbon and DTPA-extractable micro-nutrients, besides enhanced microbial–biomass–carbon, respiratory and dehydrogenase activities. Overall, C–P–Mb and O–W–Mb systems supplied with 75 % RDF + VC @ 5 t ha−1 may prove as viable alternative DICSs for enhanced system-productivity, profitability, water-productivity, energetics, and soil-health under irrigated IGPR.
Vijay Pooniya; Anil K. Choudhary; K. Swarnalakshmi. High-Value Crops’ Imbedded Intensive Cropping Systems for Enhanced Productivity, Resource-Use-Efficiency, Energetics and Soil-Health in Indo-Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences 2015, 87, 1073 -1090.
AMA StyleVijay Pooniya, Anil K. Choudhary, K. Swarnalakshmi. High-Value Crops’ Imbedded Intensive Cropping Systems for Enhanced Productivity, Resource-Use-Efficiency, Energetics and Soil-Health in Indo-Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences. 2015; 87 (4):1073-1090.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVijay Pooniya; Anil K. Choudhary; K. Swarnalakshmi. 2015. "High-Value Crops’ Imbedded Intensive Cropping Systems for Enhanced Productivity, Resource-Use-Efficiency, Energetics and Soil-Health in Indo-Gangetic Plains." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences 87, no. 4: 1073-1090.