Journal of Agronomy Research

Journal of Agronomy Research

Current Issue Volume No: 2 Issue No: 1

Research-article Article Open Access
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  • Resource Management Domains Of Kharif And Rabi Season Fallows In Central Plateau Region Of India: A Strategy For Accelerated Agricultural Development

    Gupta Raj 1
        Kumar Nirmal 2     Singh SK 2     N. Sahoo Rabi 3     Abrol IP 4    

    1 INSA Scientist, CASA, New Delhi 

    2 National Bureau of Soil Survey & Land Use Planning, Nagpur, Maharashtra 

    3 Division of Agricultural Physics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 

    4 Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture, NASC Complex, Pusa, New Delhi 

    Abstract

    Over last few decades, acreage of total fallow lands (Kharif and Rabi seasons) in India has remained almost unchanged around 25Mha. The acreage of Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) Fallows in Madhya Pradesh (MP) are 1.98Mha and 5.51Mha, respectively. In the semi-arid agroclimatic zones of the states, Fallow-Wheat/Gram/Indian-Mustard cropping systems are practiced. After harvest of Kharif rice, kodo-kutki, maize or sorghum, farmers generally practice post-rainy season Rabi fallows in the sub-humid regions, south of Narmada River. Kharif fallowing is largely the result of the inability of the farmers to make planting dates independent of monsoon forecasts, and make efficient use of rain water. It appears that factors responsible for Kharif and Rabi fallows are distinctly different and a general consequence of distinctly different soil moisture regimes prevailing in the two crop seasons. Kharif and Rabi fallows have two distinct resource management domains. Whereas, Kharif fallows can be tackled with PMP-dry seeding agronomy, production constraints of Rabi fallows can be substantively tackled by shifting from tilled to zero-till agriculture with residue management to make efficient use of the conserved rain water. Some irrigation support will prove useful to tackle mid-season droughts in both situations. Conservation agricultural practices can significantly improve and stabilize crop yields in black soils and other associated soils of in the semi-arid tropics region of the Central India.
    Author Contributions
    Received Apr 29, 2019     Accepted May 29, 2019     Published Jun 07, 2019

    Copyright© 2019 Gupta Raj, et al.
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    Creative Commons License   This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

    Competing interests

    The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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    Citation:

    Gupta Raj, Kumar Nirmal, Singh SK, N. Sahoo Rabi, Abrol IP et al. (2019) Resource Management Domains Of Kharif And Rabi Season Fallows In Central Plateau Region Of India: A Strategy For Accelerated Agricultural Development Journal of Agronomy Research. - 2(1):47-62
    DOI 10.14302/issn.2639-3166.jar-19-2590
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