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Increasing Soil Organic Carbon Through Crop Diversification in Cereal–Cereal Rotations of Indo-Gangetic Plain

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Abstract

Continuous practices of cereal–cereal rotations in Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP) region have emerged with several soil related issues including depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC). Crop diversification remains a conceivable option to address this issue. Here, the authors envisaged the long-term alternate-year inclusion of chickpea in upland maize–wheat and lowland rice–wheat systems on SOC, C-dynamics and C management indices under organic, inorganic, and control nutrient management. Inclusion of chickpea in rice–wheat and maize–wheat systems increased total organic C (TOC) by 6.5 and 13.4%, and particulate organic C (POC) by 94.7 and 41.3% in the surface soil (0–0.2 m), respectively. In both the production systems, enrichment of very-labile C (Cfrac1) and labile C (Cfrac2) fractions were apparent with inclusion of chickpea. Very-labile (Cfrac1) (36.6–37.9%) in upland and less-labile (Cfrac3) (29.1–31.7%) in lowland were the dominant C-fractions. Subsequently, upland conditions had higher active C-pool; conversely, lowland ecosystem enriched passive C-pool, which is desirable for long-term persistence of soil C. The higher values of TOC, POC, and C-fractions were registered in organic nutrient treatment over inorganic and control treatment. In lowland, chickpea residue C had a low rate of stabilization as compared to cereal residue. In lowland, crop diversification with chickpea increased lability-index and C-management index; however, the effect was marginal in upland. Thus, inclusion of chickpea in the cereal–cereal rotations of IGP would be a potential long-term strategy to improve SOC and to ensure production sustainability.

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Acknowledgements

The research work was funded by ICAR–Indian Institute of Pluses Research, Kanpur, India.

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Author notes

  1. P. K. Ghosh and K. K. Hazra have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR– Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, 284 003, India

    P. K. Ghosh

  2. ICAR– Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kalyanpur, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 208 024, India

    K. K. Hazra, M. S. Venkatesh, C. P. Nath, Jagdish Singh & N. Nadarajan

  3. Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

    K. K. Hazra

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  1. P. K. Ghosh
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  5. Jagdish Singh
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Correspondence to K. K. Hazra.

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Significance Statement

Authors recommend that crop diversification with pulse crop can improve soil organic carbon pools in long-run. Alternate-year inclusion of chickpea in rice–wheat and maize–wheat rotation improved the soil organic carbon pools and sustained crop productivity.

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Ghosh, P.K., Hazra, K.K., Venkatesh, M.S. et al. Increasing Soil Organic Carbon Through Crop Diversification in Cereal–Cereal Rotations of Indo-Gangetic Plain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 89, 429–440 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-017-0953-x

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