A comprehensive analysis of resource conservation strategies: Impacts on productivity, energetics, and environmental footprints in rice-based systems of the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains

Abstract

In Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains, traditional rice-wheat cropping system, reliant on wet puddling for rice and conventional tillage for wheat, has led to the soil degradation and stagnant yields, highlighting the need for sustainable practices. A field experiment (2018–2021) evaluated the impacts of tillage and residue management on productivity, energy efficiency, and soil health across three cropping systems: rice-wheat (RW), rice-maize (RM), and rice-chickpea (RC). Three tillage practices-conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT), and reduced tillage with 30 % residue retention (RTR30) were arranged in a randomized block design. The results showed that partial conservation agriculture (pCA) practices significantly enhanced the system productivity, with RM under RT achieving the highest yield (12.2 Mg ha⁻¹). Reduced tillage consistently the minimized energy use, while pulses-based systems had the highest energy ratio (3.97). On average, total earthworm counts were 0.92 and 6.5 times higher during the rainy and post-rainy seasons in pCA treatments in comparison to CT. Earthworm species diversity was more in pCA-based production systems (RT/RTR30) than in CT. In rice-wheat cropping system, maximum bacterial and actinomycetes counts were observed in CT/FP followed by pCA production system. Maize-based systems under CT had the highest global warming potential, while the pulse-based systems had the lowest. The RM cropping system under RTR30 demonstrated the greatest increase in the soil organic carbon. In conclusion, adopting pCA management practices and incorporating the pulses can improve crop productivity, soil health, and sustainability, offering a promising path for enhancing food and nutritional security in rice-based production systems.