Table 5.
Drivers of change, crop rotation, tillage, crop establishment method, and residue and water management of different scenarios
| Scenario | Drivers of Change | Crop Rotations | Tillage | Crop Establishment Method | Residue Management |
Nutrient Management (NPK, kg/ha) |
Water Management |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Business as usual (Farmer’s Practice) | Rice-Wheat- Fallow | CT-CT |
Rice: Transplanting Wheat: Broadcast |
All residue removed |
Rice: 175 + 58 + 0 Wheat: 150 + 58 + 0 |
Rice: Continuous flooding of 5-cm depth for 1 month, followed by irrigation applied at hair-line crack Wheat: Need based irrigation or at critical crop growth stages |
| II | Increase food production, income & nutrition through intensification and best management practices | Rice-Wheat-Mungbean | CT-ZT-ZT |
Rice: Transplanting Wheat: Drill seeding Mungbean: Drill/relay |
Full (100%) rice and anchored wheat residue retained on soil surface; full mungbean residue incorporated |
Rice: 150 + 58 + 60 Wheat: 150 + 64 + 32 Mungbean: 0 + 0 + 0 |
Rice: Continuous flooding of 5-cm depth for first 15–20 days after transplanting followed by irrigation at −40 to −50 kPa matric potential at 15-cm depth till 1 week before flowering followed by irrigation at −15 to −20 kPa Wheat: Flood irrigation at −40 to −50 kPa matric potential |
| III | Deal with rising scarcity of labor, water, energy, malnutrition, degrading soil health and emerging climatic variability | Rice-Wheat-Mungbean | ZT-ZT-ZT |
Rice: Drill seeding Wheat: Drill seeding Mungbean: Drill/relay |
Full (100%) rice and mungbean; anchored wheat residue retained on soil surface |
Rice: 160 + 64 + 62 Wheat: 150 + 64 + 32 Mungbean: 0 + 0 + 0 |
Rice: Kept soil wet for first 20 days followed by irrigation at −20 to −30 kPa matric potential Wheat: Flood irrigation at −40 to −0 kPa matric potential |
| IV | Sustainable intensification (SI) with futuristic cropping system to deal with same issues as in scenario 3 | Maize-Wheat- Mungbean | ZT-ZT-ZT |
Maize: Drill seeding Wheat: Drill seeding Mungbean: Drill/relay |
Maize (65%) and full mungbean; anchored wheat residue retained on soil surface |
Maize: 175 + 64 + 62 Wheat: 150 + 64 + 32 Mungbean: 0 + 0 + 0 |
Flood Irrigation at −50 kPa in maize and −40 to −0 kPa matric potential |
| V | SI of RW system with CA + to deal with same issues as in scenario 3 | Rice-Wheat-Mungbean | ZT-ZT-ZT | Same as in scenario 3 | Same as in scenario 3 |
Rice: 130 + 64 + 62 Wheat: 120 + 64 + 32 Mungbean: 0 + 0 + 0 N in rice- 8 splits & wheat- 4 splits through SD Fertigation |
Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) at −20 to −30 kPa in rice and −40 to −0 kPa matric potential in wheat |
| VI | SI of MW systems through CA + to deal same issues as in scenario 3 | Maize-Wheat- Mungbean | ZT-ZT-ZT | Same as in scenario 4 | Same as in scenario 4 |
Maize: 140 + 64 + 62 Wheat: 120 + 64 + 32 Mungbean: 0 + 0 + 0 N in maize- 3 splits & wheat- 4 splits through SD Fertigation |
Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) at −50 kPa in maize and −40 to −0 kPa matric potential in wheat |
Where: CT- conventional tillage; ZT- zero tillage; CA- conservation agriculture; SI- sustainable intensification; SD- subsurface drip; SDI- subsurface drip irrigation; CA+- CA + SDI; N- nitrogen; P- phosphorus; K- potassium.