Application of Smart Agricultural Practices in Wheat Crop to Increase Yield and Mitigate Emission of Greenhouse Gases for Sustainable Ecofriendly Environment

Muhammad Ishtiaq (), Muhammad Waqas Mazhar, Mehwish Maqbool, Abed Alataway, Ahmed Z. Dewidar, Hosam O. Elansary () and Kowiyou Yessoufou
Additional contact information
Muhammad Ishtiaq: Department of Botany, Mirpur University of Science & Technology (MUST), Mirpur-10250 (AJK), Pakistan
Muhammad Waqas Mazhar: Department of Botany, Mirpur University of Science & Technology (MUST), Mirpur-10250 (AJK), Pakistan
Mehwish Maqbool: Department of Botany, Mirpur University of Science & Technology (MUST), Mirpur-10250 (AJK), Pakistan
Abed Alataway: Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Chair, Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Z. Dewidar: Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Chair, Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Hosam O. Elansary: Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water Chair, Prince Sultan Institute for Environmental, Water and Desert Research, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Kowiyou Yessoufou: Department of Geography, Environmental Management, and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, APK Campus, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-13

Abstract: The present study was based on the hypothesis that “the use of classical farming techniques is the cause of emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the study area, which can be mitigated by employing smart agricultural practices (SAPs)”. The study comprises experimental trials, which were carried out over two consecutive years (2020–2021) on two experimental areas (site 1: Koel, site 2: Moel) in District Bhimber of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Wheat cv. Punjab-2018 was used in the experiment. The experiment was performed in a split-plot factorial arrangement with the main experimental plot bisected into two subplots. Within the two halves of the experimental plot, one side experienced the original tillage practice (PT––by ploughing at a depth of 4–6 cm; HT––by harrowing at 12–15 cm; NT––no tillage, of subsoil or soil ploughing). The subsoiling technique applied included subsoiling ploughing tillage (SPT), subsoiling harrow tillage (SHT), and subsoiling of no-tillage (SNT). Subsoiling was performed by means of ploughing land utilizing a vibrating subsoil trowel to a depth of 14 to 14.5 inches. As a result, each subplot was divided into three replicates. So, a total of six replicates, each 35 m in length and 4 m in width were chosen for the experiment. The results depicted that the influx of CO x uptake increased in all subsoiling treatments: that is, SPT, SHT, and SNT. The uptake of CO x was comparatively lower in HT, RT, and NT. In the same manner, GWP for NO x was recorded to increase when the soil was subjected to subsoiling, that is, HTS, RTS, and NTS. Along with this, the trend of soil temperature and soil content also fluctuated with R 2 = 0.78 at p < 0.01 from February to April and R 2 = 0.66 from December to January, which shows that SAP causes higher emission of NO x and more uptake of CO x . Subsoiling maintains soil moisture content (SMC) and soil organic carbon (SOC), which allows limited release of NO x from soil, maintaining the soil nitrogen content. In the case of SOC and pH, it was found that higher pH causes reduced absorption of CO x into soil and NO x emission from soil while higher SOC causes more absorption of CO x into soil and more emission of NO x . The application of smart agriculture in the form of subsoiling leads to an increase in the yield of wheat crops and is recommended in agriculture in the context of climate change.

Keywords: smart agricultural practices; soil moisture content; harrow tillage; wheat yield; Bhimber; Azad Kashmir; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10453/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/16/10453/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10453-:d:894804

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().