Tillage, green manuring and crop residue management impacts on crop productivity, potassium use efficiency and potassium fractions under rice-wheat system

Authors

Sandeep Sharma, Punjab Agricultural University
Pritpal Singh, Punjab Agricultural University
Hayssam M. Ali, King Saud University
Manzer Hussain Siddiqui, King Saud University
Javed Iqbal, University of Nebraska- LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

6-29-2023

Citation

Heliyon 9 (2023) e17828 Available. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17828

Comments

Open access.

Abstract

The conventional crop production practices including intensive tillage and open field crop residue burning in world’ largest rice-wheat system (RWS) are adversely affecting crop productivity besides deteriorating natural resources and ecosystems’ sustainability. In order to improve system productivity, potassium (K) use efficiency and apparent K balance, adoption of conservation tillage in a RWS with residue management is considered highly effective. We therefore, studied the effect of wheat straw retention and green manure (GM) in rice (main plot treatment), and tillage and rice residue management in subsequent wheat (sub-plot treatments) on crop productivity, K use efficiency and its transformation amongst different fractions of variable solubility. These results revealed that rice straw retention along with GM significantly (p < 0.05) increased the rice yields by ~5.3–6.7% and wheat yields by ~10.2–16.9%, compared to the conventional tillage (CT) without GM. Green manuring during the intervening period (CTR_W0+GM) significantly increased the rice grain K uptake by ~36.2% than in plots with no-GM (CTR_W0). However, it increased by ~29.8% under CTR_W25+GM, compared with CTR_W25-GM treatment. As compared with CTR_W0, CTR_W0+GM significantly increased the reciprocal internal use efficiency of K of rice by 3.8 kg Mg^-1 grain yield (~29.5%). However, CTR_W25+GM increased the RIUE_K of rice by 3.3 kg Mg^-1 grain yield (~22.4%), compared with no-GM (CTR_W25). Although, apparent K balance was net negative for CTR_W25, ZTW_R100 treatments, yet there was decreased K mining of 56–262 kg K ha^-1 (~11.9–61.2%) for CTR_W25 and ZTW_R100 over CTR_W0 and ZTW_R0. The increased crop yield, K uptake and K use efficiency were significantly related to K enrichment in water soluble K, exchangeable K, non-exchangeable-K, hydrochloric acid extractable-K, lattice-K and total K fractions by ~1.3, 3.4, 18.6, 11.0 and 34.1%, respectively due to residue retention, compared with no residue. Therefore, conventional tillage with puddled transplanted rice (CTR) with wheat residue and green manure during intervening period (CTR_W25+GM), and zero tillage wheat with rice residue retention (ZTW_R100) were emerged as highly valuable technological options for mitigating soil degradation effects under intensive RWS for food grains in north-western India.