Designing Resource-Efficient and Environmentally Safe Cropping Systems for Sustainable Energy Use and Economic Returns in Indo-Gangetic Plains, India

Sohan Singh Walia, Subhash Babu (), Roopinder Singh Gill, Tamanpreet Kaur, Noopur Kohima (), Azad Singh Panwar, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Meraj Alam Ansari (), Natesan Ravishankar, Sanjeev Kumar, Karmjeet Kaur and Majhrool Hak Ansari
Additional contact information
Sohan Singh Walia: School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Subhash Babu: Division of Agronomy, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India
Roopinder Singh Gill: Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Tamanpreet Kaur: School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Noopur Kohima: Division of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture and Technology, Jammu 180009, India
Azad Singh Panwar: Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, ICAR, Meerut 250110, India
Dinesh Kumar Yadav: Division of Environmental Soil Science, Indian Institute of Soil Science, ICAR, Bhopal 462038, India
Meraj Alam Ansari: Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, ICAR, Meerut 250110, India
Natesan Ravishankar: Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, ICAR, Meerut 250110, India
Sanjeev Kumar: Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, ICAR, Meerut 250110, India
Karmjeet Kaur: School of Organic Farming, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana 141004, India
Majhrool Hak Ansari: Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 141004, India

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: Achieving an economically feasible and environmentally robust model in agriculture while satisfying the expanding population’s food demands is a global challenge. Hence, a three-year (2014–2017) study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to design environmentally clean, energy-efficient, and profitable cropping systems. Twelve cropping systems viz., rice-wheat (CS 1 ), basmati rice-hayola (transplanted)-mung bean (CS 2 ), basmati rice-radish-maize (CS 3 ), maize-potato-maize (CS 4 ), maize + turmeric-barley + linseed (CS 5 ), maize + turmeric-wheat + linseed (CS 6 ), maize + radish-wheat + linseed-mung bean (CS 7 ), groundnut + pigeon pea (5:1)-wheat + sarson (9:1) (CS 8 ), maize + black gram-pea (bed) + celery (furrows) (CS 9 ), : maize + pigeon pea-chickpea (bed) + gobhi sarson (furrows) (CS 10 ), maize (green cobs) + vegetable cowpea + dhaincha ( Sesbania spp.)-chickpea + gobhi sarson (CS 11 ) and sorghum + cowpea (fodder)-wheat + gobhi sarson (9:1) (CS 12 ) were tested in a four-times-replicated randomized block design. CS 11 had the maximum system productivity (28.57 Mg ha −1 ), production efficiency (78.27 Kg Day −1 ha −1 ), irrigation water use efficiency (2.38 kg m −3 ), system net returns (4413.3 US$ ha −1 ), and benefit to cost (B:C) ratio (2.83) over others. In comparison to the CS 1 system, this cropping system required ~78% less irrigation water for a unit economic production. However, the cultivation of CS 12 registered the highest energy use efficiency (49.06%), net energy returns (6.46 × 10 3 MJ ha⁻¹), and global warming potential (GWP) (Mg CO 2 e ha −1 ) at spatial scale. Among all the intensified systems, CS 11 had the lowest GHGI (0.29 kg CO 2 e kg −1 ). Furthermore, cultivation of CS 6 resulted in the maximum bacterial and actinomycetes population in the soil, while CS 5 yielded the highest fungal count (23.8 × 10 3 cfu g −1 dry soil) in soil. Our study suggests that the cultivation of CS 11 is a resource-efficient, economically viable, and environmentally clean production system and could be a potential alternative to rice-wheat systems for developing a green economy policy for agricultural development in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India.

Keywords: energy use efficiency; greenhouse gases emission; system productivity; water productivity (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/2071-1050/14/21/14636/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/21/14636/ (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:21:p:14636-:d:965556

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 ().