Achieving environmental stewardship through climate-smart agriculture practices in intensive cereal systems of North-western India: Effects on energy-water-carbon footprints

Abstract

Intensive rice-based systems in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of India face critical sustainability challenges, including high energy use, excessive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and unsustainable groundwater exploitation. This study evaluates productivity and environmental footprints (energy, water, and carbon) to foster environmental stewardship through conservation agriculture-based climate-smart agriculture practices (CSAPs). Six scenarios (Sc) were analyzed: conventional till (CT) rice-wheat (CT-RW, Sc 1); CT rice-zero till (ZT) wheat-ZT mungbean (CTR-ZTWM, Sc 2); ZT direct-seeded rice-ZTWM (ZTRWM, Sc 3); ZT maize-ZTWM (ZTMWM, Sc 4); Sc 3 with subsurface drip (SSD) irrigation (ZTRWM-SSD, Sc 5); and Sc 4 with SSD (ZTMWM-SSD, Sc 6). The CSAPs (Sc 3-Sc 6) outperformed Sc 1 with respect to key performance parameters. Sc 6 (ZTMWM-SSD) achieved the maximum rice equivalent yield (8.25 t ha⁻¹), a 22.2 % increase over Sc 1. Wheat yield in Sc 6 reached to 6.34 t ha⁻¹, corresponding to a 22.1 % enhancement compared to Sc 1, resulting in a total system yield of 16.73 t ha⁻¹, representing a 35.6 % increase over Sc 1. For system-wide partial factor productivity of N, Sc 5 showed 51.4 % improvement, while Sc 6 achieved the highest increase of 69.7 %, reflecting significant gains in nitrogen use efficiency. The CSAPs scenarios markedly improved system water productivity, resulting in a decreased water footprint, which was lowest in Sc 6 (189 L kg⁻¹) compared to Sc 1 (1642 L kg⁻¹). Energy dynamics revealed that Sc 6 was the most efficient among all the scenarios. With an energy input of 30,360 MJ ha⁻¹, it produced energy output of 471,633 MJ ha⁻¹, and recorded the highest energy use efficiency (15.69). In terms of environmental sustainability, CSAPs (Sc 3, Sc 4, Sc 5 and Sc 6) exhibited lower system net global warming potential (GWP_n), compared to CT-based scenarios (Sc 1 and Sc 2), reflecting a significantly reduced carbon footprint. These results highlight the potential of CSAPs to enhance productivity and profitability while minimizing environmental impacts, making CSAPs critical to the future of sustainable agriculture in North-western India.