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Role of conservation agriculture in sustaining soil quality
1. Role of Conservation Agriculture
for Sustaining Soil Quality
Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture
G.B.P.U.A.&T. Pantnagar –263 145, Uttarakhand 1
SHIV SINGH MEENA ( ID NO. 49631 )
2. CONTENTS
Introduction
a. What is conservation Agriculture?
b. History of Conservation Agriculture (CA)
c. Principles of conservation agriculture
d. Benefits of conservation agriculture
Why does conservation agriculture represent a new
paradigm/why conservation agriculture is important?
Different practices of conservation agriculture.
Impact of CA on Soil Quality
Conclusion
22
3. Conservation agriculture (CA) as described by
FAO :
A concept for resource saving agricultural crop
production which is based on enhancing natural and
biological process above and below the ground.
What is conservation agriculture?
3
7. Issues Traditional
Agriculture
Conservation agriculture
Practice Disturbs the soil and
leaves a bare surface
Minimum soil disturbance and
soil surface permanently covered
Erosion Wind and water soil
erosion maximum
Minimum
Soil physical
health
Poor Good
Compaction Reduces compaction by
tillage operation
Compaction can be a problem but
use of mulch and promotion of
biological tillage helps to reduce
this problem
Soil biological
health
Poor due to frequent
disturbance
More diverse and healthy
biological properties and
populations
Water
infiltration
Lowest after soil pores
clogged
Best water infiltration
Traditional V/S Conservation Agriculture
7
8. Issues Traditional
Agriculture
Conservation agriculture
Soil organic
matter
Oxidizes soil organic
matter and causes its
loss
Soil organic build-up in the
surface layers even better than
TA
Soil
temperature
Surface soil
temperature
more variable
Moderated variable
Fuel use and
cost
High Low
Production
costs
High Low
Yield Can be lower where
planting delayed
Yields same as TA but can be
highest if planting is done more
timely
8
Contd.
11. 1. CA aims to conserve, improve and make more
efficient use of natural resources through
integrated management of available soil, water
and biological resources combined with external
inputs.
CA goals defined by FAO as follows
2. It contributes to environmental conservation as
well as to enhanced and sustained agricultural
production
3. It can also be referred to as resource efficient or
resource effective agriculture
11
12. AGRONOMIC BENEFITS
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Time saving and less
labour requirement
Higher efficiency
Reduction of costs
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS
Reduction in soil erosion
Improvement of water quality
Improvement of air quality
Biodiversity increase
carbon sequestration
Benefits of CA
Improvement of soil
productivity
Organic matter increase
Soil water conservation
Improvement of soil
structure
12
13. Why CA represent a new paradigm?
1. Extra CO2 emission into atmosphere
405.6
ppm
13
14. Sl. No. Agency/Organization Year Total Area of
degraded land
estimated (Mha)
1 National Commission on Agriculture, Govt. of
India (NCA-GOI)
1976 175.0
2 Society for Promotion of Waste Land
Development
1984 129.58
3 National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad 1985 53.3
4 Ministry of Agriculture 1985 173.6
5 National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use
Planning (NBSS&LUP)
1994 187.7
6 National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) 2007 114.01
Statistics on land degradation in India
(Bhattacharyya et al, 2015)
2. Land Degradation
14
Contd.
15. Sl.
No
Type of degradation Area in Mha Percentage of total
degraded land
1. Wind and Water
Erosion
94.87 79
2. Acidic soil 17.93 15
3. Alkaline soil 3.70 3
4. Saline soil 2.73 1.8
5. Water logged 0.91 1
6. Mining &
Industrial waste
0.26 0.2
Total 120.40 100.0
Land Degradation Scenario of India-2010-11
(ICAR, 2011) 15
Contd.
18. 8. Decline in soil biodiversity
9. Salinization
10. Floods and land slides
7. Lesser storage of water in the soil profile
18
19. Different practices of conservation agriculture
1. Managing Topography
Contour Farming
Strip Farming
Terracing
Waterways
19
20. It is any tillage and planting system that
maintains at least 30% of the soil surface
covered by residues after planting to reduce
water erosion
or where erosion is the primary concern
maintain at least 1000 kg/ha of small grain
residues equivalent on the surface during the
critical wind erosion period.
The Conservation Technology Information Centre (CTIC)
2. Conservation tillage
20
21. Types of conservation tillage
No tillage or Zero tillage
Soil is completely left undisturbed from harvest to
planting except sowing and nutrient application. Weed
control is only by herbicides.
Reduced tillage
Little soil disturbance before sowing to break the
crust, loosen compact soil and prepare seedbed. Weed
control by herbicides or some secondary tillage.
Mulch tillage
Tillage is practiced only to sow the crop, equipments
don't bury the crop residues. Weed control by herbicides or
some secondary tillage. 21
23. 3. Providing Soil Cover
A. Mulching
Prevent splash erosion by heavy
rains and surface runoff
Improves soil texture by adding
O.M.
B. Cover crops
Recycling nutrients and water
Enhance microbial activity
23
24. 4. Crop Rotation
In crop rotation land is fixed but crop is rotated year
after year.
Maintains and even improve soil fertility.
It checks the soil erosion and conserves moisture.
The rotation of crops offer a diverse "diet" to the soil
micro organisms.
24
26. 7. Animal Husbandry
Livestock production can be integrated by recycling
of nutrients.
Forage crops can be used for fodder and soil cover.
Controlled grazing is essential
26
31. Soil quality is…
“ the capacity of a specific kind of soil to
function, within natural or managed
ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant
and animal productivity, maintain or
enhance water and air quality, and
support human health and
habitation.”
(Karlen et al., 1997)
31
34. Effect of residue retained on Water Stability of Aggregates
and porosity under M-W cropping system
Naresh et al (2012)U.P., Sandy loam 34
35. Effect of soil depth and tillage practices on total porosity of soil
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0-10 10 ̵ 20 20-30
Totalporosity(%)
Soil depth (cm)
No tillage
Conventional tillage
Jin et al (2011)
a
a a a
b b
China, Silt loam 35
36. Bulk density (Mg m-3) as affected by rate of
mulching
Ram et al (2013)
Ludhiana, Loamy sand
36
37. 1.3
1.35
1.4
1.45
1.5
1.55
0 ̵ 10 10 ̵ 20 20 ̵ 30
ρb(Mgm-3)
Soil depth (cm)
No tillage
Conventional tillage
Effect of tillage treatments on soil bulk density
(ρb)
Jin et al (2011)
a
b
a
b
a
a
China, Silt loam 37
38. Effect of tillage on infiltration rate
Jammu, Sandy loam Sharma et al (2009) 38
39. Effect of moisture conservation techniques on
infiltration rate (cm/hr)
Sharma et al (2009)Jammu, Sandy loam 39
40. Infiltration rate (cm day-1) of texturally
different soils under CT and ZT
Singh et al (2014)Haryana
40
41. Changes in soil infiltration rate within 120 min.
under NT and CT treatments
Jin et al (2009)China, Silt loam
41
42. Effect of tillage on moisture content (%) in different
soil layers
Jin et al (2009)China, Silt loam 42
43. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 ̵ 15 15 ̵ 30
Ks(cmday-1)
Soil depth (cm)
NT
CT
Effect of tillage treatments on saturated
hydraulic conductivity of soil (Ks)
Jin et al (2009)
a
a
a
b
China, Silt loam
43
44. Effect on Chemical Quality
Soil Reaction
Redox Potential and Electrical
Conductivity
Soil Organic matter
Soil Macronutrient and Micronutrient
44
45. Effect of different crop residue management practices on the soil
Mandal et al. (2004)
Chemical properties
of soil
Residue
Incorporated Removed Burnt
pH 7.7 7.6 7.6
EC (dSm-1) 0.18 0.13 0.13
Organic Carbon (%) 0.75 0.59 0.69
Available N kg/ha 154 139 149
Available P (kg/ha) 45 38 32
Available K (kg/ha) 85 56 77
45
46. Mulch effect on soil organic carbon (%)
Ram et al (2013)Ludhiana, Loamy sand 46
47. S. No systems Carbon stored (ton/acre)
A By Management system
1 Crop land 0.107
2 Crop/grassland conversion 0.397
3 Trees /wetland conversion 0.209
4 Cultivation of organic soil -3.52
B By tillage system
1 Intensive tillage 0.042
2 Minimum tillage 0.169
3 No tillage 0.223
C-sequestration potential of different agricultural practices
(Smith et al., 2002) 47
48. Impacts of tillage sequence on SOC after 6 yrs.
of rainfed cropping at Indian Himalayas
Bhattacharyya et al. 201248
48
49. Almost 50% more OC in the no-till site 0- to
30cm -12 years No-Till
Brazil, 2010
Source = FAO
Soil organic carbon for the 12 years of NT and CT sites
49
50. Land use system Soil
loss(t/ha)
Runoff % Nutrient
loss (N%)
Eucalyptus – Bhabar grass 0.07 0.05 0.46
A. Catechu – forage grass 0.24 2.00 6.97
Sesame – rape seed 2.69 20.50 42.50
Poplar – Leucaena 1.54 4.80 5.90
Cultivated fallow 5.65 23.0 51.30
(Grewal, 1993)
Effects of vegetative barriers on runoff, soil loss
and N loss
50
57. Wheat growth, yield and yield attributes under different tillage
conditions (average of 3 years)
U.P., Sandy loam Kumar et al (2013) 57
58. Happy Seeder and rotavator
technology for in situ management
of paddy straw and wheat yield
Singh et al (2013) 58
59. Effect of mulch rate on grain yield of wheat
Iqbal et al (2011)Pakistan, Sandy Loam
59
60. Effect of establishment techniques
on grain yield and irrigation
WUE of wheat
IARI, Sandy loam Choudhury et al (2011) 60
61. Effect of sowing methods on
grain yield, water use efficiency
and net returns of rice
Balasubramanian and Krishnarajan (2000)Coimbatore, Clay loam
61
62. Constraints for adoption of CA
Lack of appropriate seeders especially
for small and medium scale farmers.
The wide spread use of crop residues
for livestock feed and as fuel .
Burning of crop residues.
Lack of knowledge about the potential
of CA to Agril. leaders, extension agents
& farmers.
Compaction can be a problem in initial stage of
conservation agriculture
62
63. Conclusion
Conservation agriculture plays an important role in maintaining soil physical,
chemical and biological properties and thus ensuring the goal of sustaining soil quality.
Conservation agriculture also helps in improving the crop production in a sustainable
manner thus there is an intense need of conservation agriculture which will not only
meet the present and future demand of ever increasing population, but also arrest
degradation of environmental quality.
As it is a new paradigm for agricultural research so still there is a scope of
development and improvement in the concept of conservation agriculture.
63
FAO Rome, Italy. (16 October 1945), Latin America is generally understood to consist of the entire continent of South America in addition to Mexico, Central America, 6th world congress in canada
7th world congress on conservation agriculture, August 1-4, 2017; Rosario – Argentina,
17 march 2017
1. Indian himalaya 53.7(16.4% of TGA, erosion rate >80 t/ha), 2. Aravli range 3.8 Mha, 3. Vindhyanchal range 14 Mha, 4. Satpura range 0.52 Mha 5. Weastern Ghats 16 Mha 6. Eastern Ghats 7.5 Mha 7. Chota Nagapur plateau 6.5 Mha
Punjab Agricultural University developed the first prototype of the Happy Seeder in July 2001,
3 year systems
The gaseous emissions from burning of rice straw are 70% CO2, 7% CO, 0.66% CH4, and 2.09% N2O (Shamra et al., 2003)
The Indian Himalayas occupy an area of 53.7 Mha, constituting 16.4% of the TGA of the country, Erosion rates are high for the Shiwalik hills (~80 ton ha−1 year−1 )
