Browsing by Author "Bhatt, Rajan"
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Publication Balanced and Secure Micronutrients in Crop Field Influence the Efficient Utilization of Macronutrients or Vice-Versa(wiley, 2022) Hossain, Akbar; Islam, Mst Tanjina; Islam, Md Sohidul; Bhatt, Rajan; Sarker, Sukamal; Maitra, Sagar; Meena, Ram SwaroopIn agriculture, the exceptional significance of micronutrient is unavoidable, as plant relies primarily on micronutrient. Although required in small amounts of micronutrients, viz., B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, they have a prominent role to play in improving yield potentials under stressed conditions. There is a large number of elements in nature out of which 16 are important for the proper growth and development of crop plants. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potash, Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur are called macro- or major nutrients and required in comparatively large amounts. Iron, Copper, Zinc, Boron, Molybdenum, Manganese, and Chloride are the micro- or minor nutrients required in smaller quantities for the vegetative and reproductive growth of crop plants. C, H, and O contribute 85-90% of the total plant content. N gives dark green color to crop plants and it increases the vegetative growth of crop plants. It is most important for the preparation of starch in leaves and the production of amino acids. P is the constituent of certain nucleic acids, phosphatides, chromosomes, and co-enzymes. P works as a catalyst in about 60 enzymatic systems of the plants and regulates the water in plants and reduces the negative effects of salts in the plants. Ca is the important constituent of the plant cell wall and it promotes early root growth and development. In consideration of the important role micronutrients have in promoting and maintaining human health, more research is needed to determine the advantages of using the optimum level of micronutrients instead of their critical level as an indicator with regard to yield, quality, and enrichment objectives for the future. � The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.Publication Cost-Effective and Eco-Friendly Agricultural Technologies in Rice-Wheat Cropping Systems for Food and Environmental Security(Springer Singapore, 2021) Hossain, Akbar; Bhatt, Rajan; Sarkar, Sukamal; Barman, Manashi; Majumder, Debjyoti; Saha, Saikat; Islam, Mst. Tanjina; Maitra, Sagar; Meena, Ram SwaroopBoth rice and wheat in the �rice-wheat cropping systems� (RWCS) of South Asia and China feed more than 3.1 billion people. It is the most productive and vital agricultural systems worldwide to meet the food safety of the growing population.Although the RWCS have great concern for food security, however, one of the foremost complications in the systems is that soils are puddled with repeated tillage by the traditional way for transplanting rice seedlings which lead to alteration in soil physical and chemical properties. Besides these, repeated tillages for puddling create a hard plow pan layer at the root zone of the rice plant that creates poor infiltration and waterlogging for the next dry season crop particularly wheat. Farmers in the systems generally use excessive synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for getting higher yield for both rice and wheat. As a result, repeatedtillage and also imbalance application of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides increase the production cost as well as influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Since the systems have several hostile effects on the environment due to traditional farming, it is already confirmed that the systems are the key source of food production for more than 3.1 billion people in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. Therefore, it will not be a wise decision to replace the system from the regions. In the meantime, researchers have recommended numerous advanced technologies in the RWCS for sustainable rice and wheat production. The chapter discusses cost-effective and ecological-friendly technologies for RWCS of South Asia for food and environmental security. � The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.Publication Ecological Intensification for Sustainable Agriculture in South Asia(Springer Singapore, 2021) Hossain, Akbar; Sarkar, Sukamal; Rahman, Atikur; Bhatt, Rajan; Garai, Sourav; Saha, Saikat; Islam, Mst. Tanjina; Meena, Ram SwaroopIn South Asian countries huge population pressure, foster urbanization and industrialization lead to dwindle the agro-ecological resources like land, water, agroforestry, human and climatic stability. Agricultural intensification has been accompanied by a set of innovations, collectively referred to as the Green Revolution, which has increased food production significantly. However, the intensification poses a major threat to the physical environment such as the loss of natural resources, genetic diversity, land degradation and non-judicious application of water and nutrient. Recent evidence recommends that ecological intensification (EI) of distinctive agriculture particularly in rice-based cropping systems of South Asia can preserve the food production in addition with environmental welfares. Since EI of sustainable agriculture could organize the precise constituents of biodiversity and can be used to either balance synthetic-input as well as expand the productivity without adverse effect on agricultural production. Besides, it is also reported that the performance of organic and agro-ecological farming system is much better in case of ecosystem services relevant to climate change, carbon sequestration from a soil depth of 30 cm and other parameters like soil water holding capacity, etc. Therefore, scientists and policymakers consequently and progressively have emphasized the welfares of ecological-intensifying agriculture to a sociable way towards food, nutritional, environmental and livelihood security by assisting biodiversity and enhance the ecosystem services. This chapter highlights the available agro-ecological resources for improving crop productivity to obtain the goal of sustainable agricultural intensification without negotiating the agricultural outputs. � Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.Publication Input Use Efficiency for Food and Environmental Security(wiley, 2022) Bhatt, Rajan; Meena, Ram Swaroop; Hossain, AkbarEnding hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable development are at the top of the list of United Nations (UN) sustainable global development priorities. In the times of high population growth and increasing pressure of agricultural systems, efficiency in use of natural resources has been at the epicenter of sustainable agricultural. The concept of �Input efficiency� implies production of high quantity and quality of food, from using only finite natural resources as inputs, in the form of mainly land, water, nutrients, energy, or biological diversity. In this book, editors provide a roadmap to the food, nutritional, and environmental security in the agricultural systems. They share insight into the approaches that can be put in practice for increasing the input use efficiency in the cropping systems and achieve stability and sustainability of agricultural production systems. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, climate change scientists, capacity builders and policymakers. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, agroforestry, agroecology, and environmental sciences. National and international agricultural scientists, policymakers will also find this to be a useful read. � The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.Publication Input Use Efficiency in Rice-Wheat Cropping Systems to Manage the Footprints for Food and Environmental Security(wiley, 2022) Bhatt, Rajan; Meena, Ram Swaroop; Hossain, AkbarGlobal population is escalating at a faster rate that could reach to 9 billion up to the 2050, and to feed such a higher population in a sustainable way from the limited resources of land and water is not an easy task. Popular conventional crop establishment techniques among the farmers are energy, water, labor, and capital intensive have higher carbon, water and energy footprints which further led to declined soil health, ground water levels, land and water productivities and higher micronutrient deficiencies. Adverse effects of the overall global warming and their influence on the agricultural production further complicated the situations of achieving food and environmental security in a sustainable manner. All result in reduced yields of the system as a whole. To improve their yields, farmers tend to add more resources, viz., water, fertilizers, and even, pesticides, which instead of helping this further deteriorated the production of higher volumes of greenhouse gases and more edible leaves, causing pollution in both soil and water bodies. Emphasis must be placed on the enhancement of the soil organic matter status to improve soil properties. Moreover, frequent escape of the greenhouse gases, viz., carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) must be checked for mitigating the adverse effects of the climate change to have sustainable environmental security and higher use efficiency of the applied inputs. There is also a need to put the problematic soils, viz., salt affected, wastelands, or waterlogged, sandy soils under cultivation by reclaiming them sustainably for having their contribution in the food security. Food security is a must for the global population but in a sustainable manner. Sustainable crop residues management can avoid the open burnings in fields, secure the quality of the environment, and minimize the complications of the global warming. Reducing food loss and wastage helps to reduce the targets of food production and exploitation of the natural resources. Farmers must be educated for reducing the water, energy, and C footprints by improving their use efficiencies (rather to enhance their dose) through different technologies in the most prevalent cropping sequence of the region, viz., minimum tillage, precision land leveling, tensiometer guided irrigations particularly in rice, un-puddled direct rice grains seeding, bed planting, etc. These technologies are also known as Resource Conservation Technologies (RCTs) that depend on soil textural class and agro-climatic conditions. Hence, to serve the purpose of improving the use efficiency of applied inputs, viz., water, fertilizers, pesticides and energy, these RCTs are recommended in the region so as to have global food and environmental security in a sustainable and climate smart way. � The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.Publication Potassium and water-deficient conditions influence the growth, yield and quality of ratoon sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) in a semi-arid agroecosystem(MDPI, 2021) Bhatt, Rajan; Singh, Jagdish; Laing, Alison M.; Meena, Ram Swaroop; Alsanie, Walaa F.; Gaber, Ahmed; Hossain, AkbarGroundwater and soil potassium deficiencies are present in northern India. Sugarcane is a vital crop in the Indian Punjab; it is grown on approximately 91,000 hectares with an average yield of 80 tonnes ha?1 and a sugar recovery rate of 9.59%. The role of potassium (K) fertilizer under both sufficient and deficient irrigation in ratoon sugarcane crops is not well documented. We conducted a split-plot ratoon cane experiment during 2020�2021 at the Gurdaspur Regional Research Station of Punjab Agricultural University, India, on K-deficient soils. Main treatments were fully irrigated (I1) and water stressed (I0) conditions, with sub-treatments reflecting K fertilizer application rates of 0 (M1), 67 (M2), 133 (M3), and 200 (M4) kg K ha?1. The ratoon sugarcane performance was assessed in terms of growth, productivity, sugar quality and incidence of key insect pests. At harvest, trends in the growth and yield parameters in I1 were improved over the I0 treatment, with cane height (+12.2%), diameter (+3.3%), number of internodes (+5.4%), biomass yield (+7.6%) and cane yield (+5.9%) all higher, although little significant difference was observed between treatments. Ratoon cane yield under irrigation was 57.1 tonnes ha?1; in water-stressed conditions, it was 54.7 tonnes ha?1. In terms of sugarcane quality parameters, measured 12 months after harvesting the initial seed crop, values of Brix (+3.6%), pol (+3.9%), commercial cane sugar percentage (+4.0%) and extractable sugar percentage (+2.8%) were all higher in the irrigated treatments than the water-stressed plot. Irrigated treatments also had a significantly lower incidence of two key insect pests: top borer (Scirpophaga excerptalis) was reduced by 18.5% and stalk borer (Chilo auricilius) by 21.7%. The M3 and M4 treatments resulted in the highest cane yield and lowest incidence of insect pests compared to other K-fertilizer treatments. Economic return on K-fertilizer application increased with increasing fertilizer dosage. Under the potassium-deficient water-stressed conditions of the region of north India, a fertilizer application rate of 133 kg K ha?1 is recommended to improve ratoon sugarcane growth, yield, and quality parameters and economic returns for sugarcane farmers. � 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Publication Publication Soil organic carbon restoration in India: Programs, policies, and thrust areas(CRC Press, 2021) Meena, Ram Swaroop; Kumar, Sandeep; Sheoran, Seema; Jhariya, Manoj Kumar; Bhatt, Rajan; Yadav, Gulab Singh; Gopinath, Kodigal A.; Rao, Cherukumalli Srinivasa; Lal, Rattan[No abstract available]
