
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Pal, M. S. 
T1  - Alternative crop production strategies for rice-wheat cropping systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India
JF  - Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture
JO  - Aust. J. Exp. Agric.
Y1  - 2003
VL  - 43
IS  - 6
SP  - 605
EP  - 615
KW  - diversification, sunflower, seed-yield equivalents.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/EA01197 
N2  - Field experiments were carried out in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India during 1997&#8211;98, 1998&#8211;99 and 1999&#8211;2000 with the objective to identify alternative crop sequences that are more productive as well as remunerative than the rice&#8211;wheat cropping system. The results indicated that the highest mean sunflower seed yield was obtained in the soybean&#8211;sunflower rotation followed by the rice&#8211;sunflower rotation and the lowest in the maize&#8211;mustard&#8211;sunflower crop rotation. Similarly, the sesbania&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower rotation had the highest biological yield followed by the soybean&#8211;sunflower and urd&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower rotations. The mean highest harvest index was found in the cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower rotation (35.1%) followed by the urd&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower (33.2%) and rice&#8211;sunflower (32.7%) rotations. A significantly high oil content in sunflower seeds was observed in both the soybean&#8211;sunflower and sesbania&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower rotations that was similar to that in the urd&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower and cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower rotations. The maize&#8211;potato&#8211;sunflower, maize&#8211;mustard&#8211;sunflower, cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211; sunflower and rice&#8211;sunflower rotations had significantly higher sunflower seed yield equivalents (201, 17, 15 and 4% higher, respectively) than the rice&#8211;wheat rotation. Similarly, the maize&#8211;potato&#8211;sunflower rotation produced the highest net income followed by cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower, rice&#8211;sunflower and maize&#8211;mustard&#8211;sunflower, that was 351, 37, 14 and 4%, respectively, higher than the net income of the rice&#8211;wheat rotation. The benefit : cost ratio was also observed to be significantly highest in the maize&#8211;potato&#8211;sunflower rotation (1.60). After 3 years of field experimentation, soil organic carbon, available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were observed to be highest in the urd&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower, soybean&#8211;sunflower, cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower and soybean&#8211;sunflower rotations, respectively. The mean value of total available nutrients was greater in soybean&#8211;sunflower than rice&#8211;wheat rotation.It can be concluded that the cowpea&#8211;toria&#8211;sunflower, soybean&#8211;sunflower and rice&#8211;sunflower crop rotations may be preferred for greater sustainability over the rice&#8211;wheat system not only in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India but also in the whole of Asia, and these findings may be a very useful reference for future research on Australian crop diversification. 
ER  -

