CONTEXT

Intensive cropping and elevated input use to achieve high crop yields have resulted in the injudicious use of resources and a consequent reduction in profit margins for farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) region of South Asia. In this region rice-wheat (RW) under conventional tillage (CT) management is the most widely cultivated cropping system. While conservation agriculture (CA)-based management practices have been demonstrated to improve cropping system performance, they are considered by many farmers to be risky, and adoption of CA in rice-based cropping systems is low. There has been little agronomic research into alternative cropping systems to develop diversification options appropriate for the EGP.

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized that shifting from a conventional RW system to crop establishment practices which incorporate CA principles, combined with alternative crops could improve the whole cropping system in terms of productivity, profitability, and nutritional security (as crop protein).

METHODS

A long-term experiment evaluated the performance of five maize-based cropping systems under CA-based management relative to CT RW.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

CA-based practices improved the maize equivalent yield (MEY) by 4–15%, protein yield by 21%, input water productivity by 14–29% and the sustainable yield index by 10–11%, relative to the CT RW baseline. Cropping system labour requirements under CT were 12% higher than those under CA. The average cost of production under CT (USD $933) was 13–14% higher than in systems under CA; cropping systems under CA achieved net returns which were 31–34% higher. Diversifying from the traditional RW system to maize-based systems improved performance in all systems except maize-mustard.

SIGNIFICANCE

These results demonstrate that while cropping system performance can be improved by applying CA-based management in RW systems, diversifying to maize-based systems in combination with CA may sustainably improve smallholder productivity and profitability while reducing some of the constraints to introducing CA in rice-based systems. These findings are important for the millions of smallholder farmers across the EGP to sustainably improve food and nutrition security for South Asia.

中文翻译：

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保护性农业下六种种植系统的可持续性、生产力、盈利能力和营养多样性：印度东部的一项长期研究

语境

为实现作物高产而进行的集约化种植和投入使用增加导致资源使用不当，从而导致南亚东恒河平原 (EGP) 地区农民的利润率下降。在该地区，常规耕作 (CT) 管理下的稻麦 (RW) 是最广泛种植的作物系统。虽然基于保护性农业 (CA) 的管理实践已被证明可以提高种植系统的性能，但许多农民认为它们存在风险，并且在水稻种植系统中采用 CA 的比例很低。很少有人对替代种植系统进行农学研究，以开发适合 EGP 的多样化选择。

客观的

我们假设从传统的 RW 系统转变为包含 CA 原则的作物建立实践，结合替代作物可以在生产力、盈利能力和营养安全（如作物蛋白质）方面改善整个种植系统。

方法

一项长期实验评估了在基于 CA 的管理下相对于 CT RW 的五种玉米种植系统的性能。

结果和结论

相对于 CT RW 基线，基于 CA 的做法将玉米当量产量 (MEY) 提高了 4-15%，蛋白质产量提高了 21%，输入水生产率提高了 14-29%，可持续产量指数提高了 10-11%。CT 下种植系统的劳动力需求比 CA 下的高 12%。CT 下的平均生产成本（933 美元）比 CA 下的系统高 13-14%；CA 下的种植系统实现了 31-34% 的净回报。从传统的 RW 系统多样化到基于玉米的系统提高了除玉米芥末以外的所有系统的性能。

意义

这些结基于系统。这些发现对于 EGP 数百万小农持续改善南亚的粮食和营养安全非常重要。