Fodder Grass Strips: An Affordable Technology for Sustainable Rainfed Agriculture in India

Pushpanjali (), Josily Samuel, Prabhat Kumar Pankaj, Konda Srinivas Reddy, Karunakaran Karthikeyan, Ardha Gopala Krishna Reddy, Jagriti Rohit, Kotha Sammi Reddy and Vinod Kumar Singh
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Pushpanjali: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Josily Samuel: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Prabhat Kumar Pankaj: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Konda Srinivas Reddy: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Karunakaran Karthikeyan: ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey Land Use Planning, Nagpur 440 033, India
Ardha Gopala Krishna Reddy: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Jagriti Rohit: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Kotha Sammi Reddy: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India
Vinod Kumar Singh: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad 500059, India

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Rainfed agriculture, though resource-poor, contributes to around 40 percent of total food production in India. Fodder grass-strip-based systems improve soil’s physical and biological properties, control soil erosion, and help in slope stabilization without compromising productivity. Permanent fodder grass strips can effectively check the depletion of soil nutrients and can also act as sediment traps vis-à-vis meeting the green fodder requirement for small ruminants. This study was carried out with the major objective to quantify the impact of grass-strip-based cropping systems on soil quality. Further fodder quality assessment was carried out using the grass quality index for small ruminant feed and the profitability of different treatments was analyzed. Random block design (RBD) with three treatments which included two types of fodder grass ( Brachiaria ruziziensis and Stylosanthes hamata) on both sides of the cropped field was used for the study. The results showed that the soil quality increased from 0.39 to 0.52 and the runoff reduced significantly with soil loss reduction by 65-70 percent. The fodder quality assessment showed that the palatability of Stylosanthes hamata and Brachiaria ruziziensis was about 65 percent and 40 percent, respectively. The fodder grass strip increased the net returns by 30 percent. This easily adaptable natural resource management technology reduces soil nutrient loss and will help resource-poor rainfed farmers to maintain soil health and productivity under variable rainfall conditions with fair support to small ruminants.

Keywords: soil quality; fodder quality; surface runoff; fodder-based cropping system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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