Impact of conservation agriculture practices on energy use efficiency and global warming potential in rainfed pigeonpea–castor systems

Pratibha, G. and Srinivas, I. and Rao, K.V. and et al, . (2015) Impact of conservation agriculture practices on energy use efficiency and global warming potential in rainfed pigeonpea–castor systems. European Journal of Agronomy, 66 (1). pp. 30-40.

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Abstract

Identification of agricultural practices which maximize crop productivity, energy use efficiency (EUE)and minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential. There is dearth of information in rainfed agriculture in general and conservation agriculture in particular, hence a study was conducted to assess the EUE and GHG emissions of different tillage practices like conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT)and zero tillage (ZT) and residue levels (harvesting heights resulting in 0, 10 and 30 cm anchored residue)in pigeonpea–castor systems under semi-arid rainfed regions of India. CT recorded 30 and 31% higher energy inputs than ZT in pigeonpea and castor, respectively. The fuel consumption in ZT was 58 and 81%lower than CT in pigeonpea and castor, respectively. This lower fuel consumption in ZT reduced the GHG emissions by 21 and 23% in pigeonpea and castor, respectively, in comparison with CT. EUE and energy productivity were maximum in ZT with 10 cm anchored residue. Further, castor grown on pigeonpea residue recorded 10 and 20% higher energy inputs and GHG emissions over pigeonpea grown on castor residues. Our results indicate that, reduction in one tillage operation with residue have a minimal impact on the crop yields but have a substantial environmental benefits.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Tillage, Cajanus cajan (L.), Ricinus communis (L.), Energy balance, Greenhouse gas emissions
Author Affiliation: Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad 500 059, India
Subjects: Crop Improvement
Divisions: Pigeonpea
Depositing User: Mr B Krishnamurthy
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2015 10:20
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2015 10:20
URI: http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/13814

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