Rice–wheat cropping system (RWCS) is a dominant agricultural practice in the Indo-Gangetic plains, particularly in the North–Western states of India. The prevalent practice of open burning of rice residue, driven by the need for timely land preparation, poses severe environmental and health consequences, including nutrient loss, greenhouse gas emissions, high concentrations of particulate matter (PM), and disruption of the ecological cycle. This study focuses on implementing effective management practices in the RWCS through tillage-based crop establishment, residue retention, and incorporation methods. The objective is to improve crop yield and its attributes by enhancing soil health properties. A split-plot experimental design was practiced with four different treatments, zero-tillage with manual harvesting (ZT), Happy Seeder with combine harvester (HS), Happy Seeder with Mulcher and combine harvesting, and conventional tillage (CT). By evaluating soil nutrient content, including organic carbon (OC), N, P, and K, at a 0–10 cm depth, the study demonstrates the superiority of the mulcher with Happy Seeder (MHS), which significantly increased soil nutrient levels by 105, 59, 102, and 97%, respectively, compared to conventional tilled broadcasted wheat (CT). Furthermore, the MHS treatment exhibited the highest yield of 56.8 q ha⁻¹, outperforming the yield of 43.6 q ha⁻¹ recorded under conventional tilled broadcasted wheat. These findings underscore the critical role of surface residue retention with MHS in ensuring crop productivity and overall production sustainability of the RWCS in Haryana, India. Moreover, effective rice residue management holds long-term implications for agricultural resilience, farm economics, environmental conservation, and human health. It emphasizes the importance of adopting sustainable practices, prioritizing research efforts, and advocating for policies that ensure the prolonged sustainability and productivity of the RWCS while safeguarding environmental well-being.

Inappropriate agricultural practices consume more input energy and emit higher greenhouse gases (GHGs) which cause global warming and climate change, thereby threatening environmental sustainability. To identify energy and carbon-efficient varieties and nutrient management practices, the present study was undertaken during the kharif season of 2018 and 2019 in a split-plot design with three varieties of fodder maize (African Tall, J-1006 and P-3396) and four nutrient management practices such as N0: Absolute control, N1: 100% recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF), N2: 75% RDF + plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) + Panchagavya spray and N3: 50% RDF + 25% farmyard manure (FYM) + PGPR + Panchagavya spray). Results indicated that variety J-1006 and applying 75% RDF + PGPR + Panchagavya spray produced significantly higher dry fodder yield. Among the varieties, J-1006 recorded the highest total energy output (224,123 MJ ha⁻¹), net energy (211,280 MJ ha⁻¹), energy use efficiency (17.64), energy productivity (0.98 kg MJ⁻¹), energy profitability (16.64), and lowest specific energy (1.03 MJ ha⁻¹). Regarding nutrient management, 75% RDF + PGPR + Panchagavya spray fetched the highest total energy output (229,470 MJ ha⁻¹) and net energy (215,482 MJ ha⁻¹). However, energy use efficiency, energy productivity, and energy profitability were significantly higher with integrated nutrient management (N2 and N3) over 100% RDF. Concerning the carbon estimation, J-1006 resulted in a significantly higher carbon output (5479 kg CE ha⁻¹), net carbon gain (5029 kg CE ha⁻¹), carbon efficiency (12.46), carbon sustainability index (11.46), and significantly lower carbon footprint per unit yield (CFy) (131.3 kg CO₂-e Mg⁻¹). For nutrient management, the application of 75% RDF + PGPR + Panchagavya spray showed significantly higher carbon output (5609 kg CE ha⁻¹) and net carbon gain (5112 kg CE ha⁻¹). However, significantly higher carbon efficiency, carbon sustainability index, and lower CFy were reported with integrated nutrient management over 100% RDF. Overall, selecting the J-1006 variety and applying 75% RDF + PGPR + Panchagavya spray for fodder maize cultivation could be the most productive in terms of dry fodder production, energy, and carbon efficiency approach.

Optimizing nutrient management strategies is crucial for enhancing the growth, yield, and nutritional quality of fodder maize (Zea mays) while minimizing environmental impacts. This study investigated the effects of innovative nitrogen (N) and zinc (Zn) management approaches on fodder maize production. Different combinations of nitrogen fertilizers, including conventional urea and nano-urea, were applied in conjunction with targeted foliar sprays of zinc sulfate (ZnSO₄) and nano-zinc. The experiment was carried out in a Factorial Randomized Block design with four nitrogen management strategies (control N, 100% recommended nitrogen dose RDN through urea, 50% RDN through urea + two sprays of nano-urea at six and ten leaves stages, and 33.33% RDN through urea + two sprays of nano-urea at six and ten leaves stage) and four zinc management strategies (control Zn, soil application of ZnSO₄, foliar application of ZnSO₄, and foliar application of nano-Zn) which were replicated thrice. The study revealed that applying 50% of RDN through urea, along with dual foliar sprays of nano-urea, achieved comparable productivity to the 100% RDN through urea only. Among the Zn managements, both foliar and soil applications of conventional ZnSO₄ recorded similar green and dry fodder yields, although foliar application of ZnSO₄ was observed to be superior in terms of qualitative attributes. Maize subjected to the integrated nitrogen and zinc management strategy exhibited elevated protein content and reduced fiber fractions. These findings highlight the potential of nano-urea and foliar zinc application in enhancing both productivity and nutritional quality, while reducing dependence on conventional chemical fertilizers.

Conservation agriculture has recently been a hot topic of agricultural research and has generated significant global interest. Conservation agriculture has three core principles: minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotations. The research on this topic has also witnessed a boom in recent years as the number of peer-reviewed literature on conservation agriculture is rising exponentially. This study critically examines all the peer-reviewed documents published on conservation agriculture from the 1990s to 2021 and indexed in the web of science core database. The search returned 3023 documents, which were then processed in the R-based bibliometric package for annual scientific production trend, source, author, document, citation, keyword analysis, and co-occurrence networking using VOSviewer. Our findings show remarkable growth in conservation agriculture research in recent times, although it witnessed a shortfall in 2021. Notably, 15 core source journals contribute the most to the field, while 8692 researchers have authored or co-authored at least a document on conservation agriculture. While the USA, India, and Australia are front runners in conservation agriculture research, the spread of the topic is worldwide.