Effects of Resource Conservation Practices on Productivity,Profitability and Energy Budgeting in Maize–Wheat Cropping System of Indian Sub-Himalayas

Resource conservation issues have drawn the attention of scientists to devise innovative tillage and crop establishment techniques for higher productivity in small holder farming systems in the tropics but relatively less attention has been given in rainfed sloping lands of the Indian sub-Himalayan (sub-temperate) regions. To investigate these issues, an experiment was conducted on resource conservation practices under rainfed conditions for 5 years (June 2007–May 2012) at Dehradun, Uttarakhand in the Indian Himalayan region. Four treatments, 1. 100:60:40 kg N:P₂O₅:K₂O + conventional tillage (CT) + chemical weeding + PANICUM vegetation strip (T₁); 2. FYM (5 t ha^?1) + minimum tillage (MT) + 1 weed mulch (30 DAS) @ 0.52 t ha^?1 + PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T₂); 3. FYM (5 t ha^?1) + vermi-compost (1.0 t ha^?1) + MT + 2 weed mulch (25 and 50 DAS) @ 1.47 t ha^?1 + PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T₃) and 4. FYM (5 t ha^?1) + vermi-compost (1.0 t ha^?1) + poultry manure (2.5 t ha^?1) + MT + 3 weed mulch (20, 40 and 60 DAS) @ 2.18 t ha^?1 + PALMAROSA vegetation strip (T₄). The results showed that resource conservation treatments (T₄, T₃ and T₂) had significant (P ≤ 0.05) multiple benefits as compared to traditional agriculture treatments (T₁). T₁ gives the highest yield of maize whereas T₄ gives highest yield of wheat. For the maize–wheat cropping system, mean wheat equivalent yield (WEY) was ~16 % higher in T₄ than T₁. Mean runoff was ~30 % lesser and mean soil loss was ~34 % lesser in T₄ as compared with T₁. Similarly, mean soil moisture conservation for rainfed wheat was ~31 % higher in T₄ than T₁. Mean carbon retention potential increased by ~53 % which subsequently increased mean soil quality index (SQI) by ~25 %. Mean energy productivity increased by ~70 % and mean energy intensiveness decreased by ~56 % in T₄ than T₁. Treatment T₁ (2,560 MJ^?1) emerged to be the most energy intensive system as compared to T₄ (1,113 MJ Rs.^?1). On an average, T₄ had 7 % higher net returns than T₁ and in terms of net returns per tonne of soil loss, T₄ was the best treatment (Rs. 4,907). Therefore, resource conservation system (PALMAROSA as a vegetation strip along with organic amendments, FYM, vermi-compost, poultry manure and weed mulch under minimum tillage) had significant positive impact on yield, resource conservation and energy saving and may be introduced as a substitute of conventional system in the Indian sub-Himalayas and under similar climatic and edaphic conditions.