Impacts of conservation agriculture on total soil organic carbon retention potential under an irrigated agro-ecosystem of the western Indo-Gangetic Plains

Das, T.K. and Bhattacharyya, B. and Sharma , A.R. and et al, . (2013) Impacts of conservation agriculture on total soil organic carbon retention potential under an irrigated agro-ecosystem of the western Indo-Gangetic Plains. European Journal of Agronomy, 51. pp. 34-42.

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Abstract

Sequestration of C in arable soils has been considered as a potential mechanism to mitigate the elevated levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. We evaluated impacts of conservation agriculture on change in total soil organic C (SOC) and relationship between C addition and storage in a sandy loam soil of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crops were grown during the first three years (2008–2011) and in the last year, maize (Zea mays L.), wheat and green gram (Vigna radiate L.) were cultivated. Results indicate the plots under zero tillage with bed planting (ZT-B) and zero tillage with flat planting (ZT-F) had nearly 28 and 26% higher total SOC stock compared with conventional tillage and bed planting (CT-B) (∼5.5 Mg ha−1) in the 0–5 cm soil layer. Plots under ZT-B and ZT-F contained higher total SOC stocks in the 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil layers than CT-B plots. Although there were significant variations in total SOC stocks in the surface layers, SOC stocks were similar under all treatments in the 0–30 cm soil layer. Residue management had no impact on SOC stocks in all layers, despite plots under cotton/maize + wheat residue (C/M+ W RES) contained ∼13% higher total SOC concentration than no residue treated plots (N RES; ∼7.6 g kg−1) in the 0–5 cm layer. Hence, tillage and residue management interaction effects were not significant. Although CT-B and ZT-F had similar maize aboveground biomass yields, CT-F treated plots yielded 16% less maize biomass than CT-B plots. However, both wheat and green gram (2012) yields were not affected by tillage. Plots under C/M + W RES had ∼17, 13, 13 and 32% higher mean cotton, maize, wheat and green gram aboveground biomass yields than N RES plots, yielding ∼16% higher estimated root (and rhizodeposition) C input in the 0–30 cm soil layer than N RES plots. About 9.3% of the gross C input contributed towards the increase in SOC content under the residue treated plots. However, ∼7.6 and 10.2% of the gross C input contributed towards the increase in SOC content under CT and ZT, respectively. Thus, both ZT and partial or full residue retention is recommended for higher soil C retention and sustained crop productivity.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Carbon addition and storage; Conventional and zero tillage; Bed planting; Residue management; Wheat based cropping; Indo-Gangetic Plains
Author Affiliation:	Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi 110 012, India
Subjects:	Soil Science and Microbiology > Soil Sciences
Divisions:	General
Depositing User:	Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited:	31 Jul 2013 04:58
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2013 04:58
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2013.07.003
URI:	http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/11317

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