Decreased frequency but greater intensity of rainfall in semi-arid India severely affects growth and the yield of rainfed annual food crops, where there is no other source of water, leading to moisture stress during protracted dry spells. As Indian farmers growing rainfed crops are small landholders, their better option is in situ rainwater harvesting. This ensures moisture storage and increases soil moisture available to rainfed crops with less-costly investment. Accordingly, a field investigation was established over 2011, 2012 and 2013 at the Dryland Agricultural Research Station, Chettinad, India. We studied the effects of seedbed preparation method (SBPM) and mulching with crop residues (CRM) on soil physicochemical properties, growth, yield and yield attributes of groundnut. Greater soil moisture content was measured under compartmental bunding (CB) and raised bed (RB) with CRM than under flatbed (FB). Soil bulk density was considerably smaller under CB and RB with CRM (1.36 and 1.37 Mg m⁻³) compared with FB (1.39 Mg m⁻³). Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) was larger under CB and RB with CRM (563 and 542 mg kg⁻¹ soil, respectively) than FB with and without CRM. RB with CRM application contained more soil organic carbon (SOC) stock (3.1 Mg ha⁻¹) than FB. CB with CRM resulted in larger groundnut yield (1,604 kg ha⁻¹) and rainwater use efficiency (5.8 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹) than the FB with and without CRM; RB and RF with CRM were intermediate. The ideal seedbed preparation for groundnut crop in Alfisol under semi-arid conditions was compartmental bunding (CB) and raised bed (RB) along with CRM.

中文翻译：

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作物残茬覆盖和苗床准备方法对印度半干旱地区 Alfisols 土壤特性和雨育花生产量的影响

在没有其他水源的半干旱印度，降雨频率减少但强度增加严重影响了雨养一年生粮食作物的生长和产量，导致在长期干旱期间出现水分压力。由于种植雨育作物的印度农民是小地主，他们更好的选择是就地雨水收集。这确保了水分储存，并以较低的投资增加了可用于雨养作物的土壤水分。因此，2011 年、2012 年和 2013 年在印度切蒂纳德旱地农业研究站开展了实地调查。我们研究了苗床准备方法 (SBPM) 和作物残留物覆盖 (CRM) 对花生土壤理化性质、生长、产量和产量属性的影响。在有 CRM 的隔间堤防 (CB) 和高架床 (RB) 下测量的土壤水分含量比在平板 (FB) 下更高。使用 CRM（1.36 和 1.37 Mg m^-3 ) 与 FB (1.39 Mg m ^-3 ) 相比。土壤微生物生物量碳 (SMBC) 在含 CRM 的 CB 和 RB 下（分别为 563 和 542 mg kg ^-1土壤）比含和不含 CRM 的 FB 更大。施用 CRM 的 RB比 FB含有更多的土壤有机碳 (SOC) 储量 (3.1 Mg ha ^-1 )。与含有和不含 CRM 的 FB 相比，含有 CRM 的 CB 导致更高的花生产量（1,604 kg ha ^-1）和雨水利用效率（5.8 kg ha ^-1  mm ^-1）；RB 和 RF 与 CRM 是中间的。在半干旱条件下，Alfisol 花生作物的理想苗床准备是隔室垫 (CB) 和高架床 (RB) 以及 CRM。