Browsing by Author "Rachana Dubey"

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Drought and Heat Stress in Agriculture: Implications, Mitigation and Policy Approaches
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2025) Rachana Dubey; Kumari Shubha; Sanjeev Raj Kumar; Amitava Rakshit; Anup Das
This edited book provides critical insights into changing climate's impact on agriculture and innovative strategies for building resilience. The agricultural sector is highly dependent on climatic conditions, is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of drought and heat stress. It has been notices that crop yields in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East are reduced by 15–35% when temperatures rise by 3-4 °C. The book explores the impacts of climate change on agriculture and how farmers can adapt their practices to overcome the dual threat of drought and heat stress on cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, and other allied sectors. One of the key themes of the book is the importance of smart water management in building agricultural resilience to drought and heat stress. By adeptly managing water resources and nurturing soil health through practices like cover cropping and reduced tillage, farmers bolster their resilience. Additionally, livestock management strategies are explored to combat reduced productivity and health issues due to heat stress. Harnessing the power of AI-assisted solutions, the book showcases how cutting-edge technology aids data-driven decisions on crop management and irrigation. This book is a vital resource for farmers, researchers, policymakers, and those concerned about our food systems' future. It emphasizes the urgent need for climate-smart agricultural policies and technologies, offering prospects for sustainable practices and resilient food production. © 2025 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
Impact of crop establishment and residue management on soil properties and productivity in rice-fallow ecosystems in India
(John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2022) Rakesh Kumar; Janki Sharan Mishra; Sushanta Kumar Naik; Surajit Mondal; Ram Swaroop Meena; Saurabh Kumar; Abhishek Kumar Dubey; Govind Makarana; Bal Krishna Jha; Santosh Sambhaji Mali; Ashis Kumar Biswas; Arbind Kumar Choudhary; Hansraj Hans; Rachana Dubey; Santosh Kumar; Prem Kumar Sundaram; Rohan Kumar Raman; Mohammad Monobrullah; Sanjeev Kumar; Ujjwal Kumar; Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt
The degradation of agricultural land, both chemical and biological, is a big concern all over the world. Crop cultivation practices that are distinctive to each location have negative consequences for agricultural production. Therefore, there is an urgent need for better crop and soil management techniques. This experiment was conducted for 5 years (2016–2020) to identify the best crop establishment-cum-residue management (CERM) practices and suitable crops for succession after the rice harvest in rice-fallow ecosystems of India. Experimentation was conducted in the split-plot design and each treatment was replicated thrice, having CERM in main-plot and post-rainy season/winter crops in sub-plot. All the CERM treatments had two variants, with crop residue (R+) and without crop residue (R−). Rice yields were markedly higher (19.1%–32.2%) in transplanted puddled rice with residue (TPR-R+) over conventional-till direct seeded rice (CTDSR) and zero-till DSR (ZTDSR) treatments. However, TPR adversely impacted the performance of all the post-rainy pulses/oilseed crops. Post-rainy season crop yields under ZTDSR/CTDSR were 14.9%–45.8% higher leading to higher system productivity as compared to TPR. ZTDSR with residue retention showed higher soil aggregation. The practice of ZTDSR increased the soil dehydrogenase activity (46.2%), urease activity (29.8%), soil microbial biomass carbon (65.4), and fluorescein diacetate activity (9.0%) in the crop root zone with 3.3- and 4.47-times higher earthworm population and earthworm biomass, respectively. The rice-pulse system showed 1.74-times more earthworm population over rice-oilseed sequences. Total soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in ZTDSR was 21.8% higher over TPR in 0–45 cm soil profile. Thus, the adoption of ZTDSR practices and diversification of rice-fallows with pulses crops is recommended for enhancing the crop productivity, increasing SOC stock, and improving soil biological properties in the rice-fallow ecosystems of India. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Preface
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2025) Rachana Dubey; Kumari Shubha; Amitava Rakshit; Sanjeev Kumar; Anup Das
[No abstract available]
Sequential submergence and drought induce yield loss in rice by affecting redox homeostasis and source-to-sink sugar transport
(Elsevier B.V., 2024) Santosh Kumar; Sahana Basu; A.K. Choudhary; Shashi Shekhar; J.S. Mishra; Sanjeev Kumar; Kumari Shubha; Rachana Dubey; Surajit Mondal; S.K. Dwivedi; N. Bhakta; Rakesh Kumar; Sujoy Sarkar; Srustidhar Dhamudia; Sunny Kumari; Anup Das; Arvind Kumar; Gautam Kumar
Rice cultivation in the rainfed ecosystems of the eastern Indo-Gangetic plain (EIGP) frequently comes across abrupt alternation of submergence and drought during the vegetative and reproductive stages, respectively, within one growing season, and this may be exaggerated with climate change. Therefore, development of combined submergence and drought tolerant rice genotypes might be a timely effort to meet the growing food demand. However, till date no study has been executed on the combination of submergence and drought stress in the field conditions of the EIGP. The present study elucidated the performance of near isogenic lines (NILs) of rice developed for the EIGP through marker assisted pyramiding of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with submergence (Sub1) and drought (qDTY1.1 + qDTY2.1 + qDTY3.1) in the background of the popular, high yielding Indo-Gangetic rice variety Swarna. This study included the screening of sixteen rice NILs along with the check varieties Swarna and Swarna Sub1 under cumulative submergence and drought for four consecutive rice growing years (2019–2022). Individual submergence or drought or cumulative stress caused 76, 47, and 85% respective loss in average productivity compared to that of the control conditions. However, rice NILs IR96321–558–563-B-2–1–1, IR96321–315–323-B-3–1–3, IR96321–315–294-B-1–1–1–1, and IR96321–558–209-B-6–1–1 showed outstanding cumulative stress tolerance with sustainable photosynthetic performance and membrane stability. Furthermore, these rice NILs exhibited effective reactive oxygen species scavenging mediated by enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities in source (flag-leaf) and sink (anther) tissues that contributed to conserving the source-to-sink mobilization, leading to improved pollen viability and spikelet fertility under sequential stress conditions. The study identified combined submergence-drought tolerant rice NILs along with an optimum yield level to support global food security and also represented a model crop system to establish mechanisms of multi-stress tolerance in plants. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.