The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through agriculture, especially in the rainfed ecosystem, can be achieved by effective conservation management practices. Therefore, the study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the inclusion of intensified leguminous live mulch systems can improve system productivity, carbon management index (CMI), and soil health. Two cropping systems viz, summer maize-rainy season maize-lentil (SM-RM-L); and summer maize-rainy season maize-mustard (SM-RM-Ma) and five tillage and mulching practices such as 1) no-till (NT); 2) NT with live mulch (NT-LM); 3) reduced tillage (RT); 4) RT with live mulch (RT-LM); and 5) conventional tillage (CT) were tested in a split-plot design. Results revealed that yield attributes and yields of summer and rainy season maize, and cowpea were higher under SM-RM-L than the SM-RM-Ma cropping system. But in the winter, crop yields were higher under SM-RM-Ma than the SM-RM-L cropping system. NT-LM and RT-LM recorded 39.5 % and 48.4 % average higher grain yield of summer maize over the CT. The soil under the NT-LM had the maximum very labile C (2.32 g kg⁻¹); the labile C fraction was the highest in soil under CT (1.72 g kg⁻¹). The non-labile C fraction of soil organic carbon (SOC) was higher under NT and NT-LM than the rest of the tillage/mulch treatments in 0−10 cm depth. The soil under RT-LM had a higher lability index (LI,1.62) than the rest of the treatments in 0−10 cm depth. Conversely, in 10−20 cm depth, the soil under NT had higher LI (1.77) than the rest of the treatments. The soil under NT-LM and RT-LM had higher CPI and CMI than those in the rest of the treatments. Water holding capacity (WHC), infiltration rate, and cumulative infiltration were significantly higher under NT-LM and RT-LM than the other treatments. Thus, the study indicated the positive role of LM based conservation tillage practices in improving soil properties, carbon management indices, and productivity of maize-based cropping systems in the eastern Indian Himalayas.

通过农业，特别是在雨养生态系统中的农业实现可持续发展目标，可以通过有效的养护管理做法来实现。因此，该研究旨在验证以下假设：强化豆科植物覆盖覆盖系统可以提高系统生产力，碳管理指数（CMI）和土壤健康。两个种植系统，夏季玉米-雨季玉米小扁豆（SM-RM-L）; 夏季玉米-雨季玉米-芥末（SM-RM-Ma）和五种耕作和覆盖措施，例如1）免耕（NT）；2）带直播覆盖的NT（NT-LM）；3）减少耕作（RT）；4）带直播覆盖的RT（RT-LM）；5）传统耕作（CT）在分块设计中进行了测试。结果表明，在SM-RM-L下，夏，雨季玉米和cow豆的产量属性和产量均高于SM-RM-Ma种植系统。但是在冬季，SM-RM-Ma作物的产量高于SM-RM-L作物。NT-LM和RT-LM记录了夏季玉米在CT上的平均增产分别为39.5％和48.4％。NT-LM下的土壤具有最高的极不稳定碳（2.32 g kg ^-1）；CT下土壤中的不稳定C分数最高（1.72 g kg^-1）。在0-10 cm深度下，NT和NT-LM处理下土壤有机碳（SOC）的非不稳定碳含量高于其余的耕作/覆盖处理。在0-10 cm深度下，RT-LM下的土壤的不稳定性指数（LI，1.62）比其余处理更高。相反，在10-20 cm的深度下，NT下的土壤的LI（1.77）高于其余处理。NT-LM和RT-LM下的土壤的CPI和CMI高于其余处理。NT-LM和RT-LM处理的持水量（WHC），入渗率和累积入渗量显着高于其他处理。因此，该研究表明，基于LM的保护性耕作方式在改善印度东部喜马拉雅山的土壤特性，碳管理指数和玉米种植系统的生产力方面具有积极作用。