Browsing by Author "Srinivasarao, Ch."
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Publication Integrated nutrient management improves soil organic matter and agronomic sustainability of semiarid rainfed Inceptisols of the Indo-Gangetic Plains(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2021) Srinivasarao, Ch.; Singh, S.P.; Kundu, Sumanta; Abrol, Vikas; Lal, Rattan; Abhilash, P.C.; Chary, G.R.; Thakur, Pravin B.; Prasad, J.V.N.S.; Venkateswarlu, B.Background: Climate and management practices impact the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of agricultural soils. Especially under the semiarid climate of India, organic matter is rapidly decomposed, and imbalanced nutrient input further exacerbates its depletion, thus facilitating the decline in soil quality and crop yields. Improving SOC contents through integrated nutrient management (INM), that is, conjunctive use of organic and chemical sources of nutrients, could ameliorate soil health and sustain crop yields. Aim: To assess the potential of the INM approach to enhance the SOC status, soil quality, crop production, and drought adaptation of pearl millet under rainfed conditions. Methods: Nutrient inputs were supplied through mineral fertilizers, organic manures, and a combination of both. SOC sequestration, sustainable yield index, plant-available N, P, K, and water, bulk density, and KMnO4-oxidizable C were estimated. Results: Higher SOC sequestration rate (0.50 and 0.48 Mg ha?1 y?1 in 50% N (fertilizer) + 50% N (farmyard manure), and 50% N (fertilizer) + 50% N (crop residue), respectively) and significant increase in soil fertility were recorded in organically amended treatments. Improvement of 1 Mg ha?1 of SOC stock in the root zone (0.4 m depth) reduced the severity of drought and increased the yield by 38 kg ha?1. Plots under organic amendments suffered less yield losses under short-duration droughts, but this positive effect could only be exploited when the rainfall deficit was up to 25%. Conclusion: Managements that add up to 1.2 Mg ha?1 y?1 SOC are adaptive and climate-resilient strategies in dry semiarid degraded Inceptisols of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. � 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbHPublication Pulse-based cropping systems for soil health restoration, resources conservation, and nutritional and environmental security in rainfed agroecosystems(Frontiers Media S.A., 2023) Kumar, Sandeep; Gopinath, K.A.; Sheoran, Seema; Meena, Ram Swaroop; Srinivasarao, Ch.; Bedwal, Sandeep; Jangir, Chetan Kumar; Mrunalini, Kancheti; Jat, Ramdhan; Praharaj, C.S.Pulses are an important source of energy and protein, essential amino acids, dietary fibers, minerals, and vitamins, and play a significant role in addressing global nutritional security. The global pulse area, production, and average productivity increased from 1961 to 2020 (60 years). Pulses are usually grown under rainfed, highly unstable, and complex production environments, with substantial variability in soil and environmental factors, high year-to-year output variability, and variation in soil moisture. Since the last six decades, there is not much satisfactory improvement in the yield of pulses because of their cultivation in harsh environments, coupled with their continuous ignorance of the farmers and governments in policy planning. As a result, the global food supplies through pulses remained negligible and amounted to merely ~1.0% of the total food supply and 1.2% of the vegan food system. In this situation, protein-rich food is still a question raised at the global level to make a malnutrition-free world. Pulses are a vital component of agricultural biological diversity, essential for tackling climate change, and serve as an energy diet for vegetarians. Pulses can mitigate climate change by reducing the dependence on synthetic fertilizers that artificially introduce nitrogen (N) into the soil. The high demand and manufacture of chemical fertilizers emit greenhouse gases (GHGs), and their overuse can harm the environment. In addition, the increasing demand for the vegetal protein under most global agroecosystems has to be met with under a stressed rainfed situation. The rainfed agroecosystem is a shelter for poor people from a significant part of the globe, such as Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Nearly, 83% [over 1,260 million hectares (ha)] of cultivated land comes under rainfed agriculture, contributing significantly to global food security by supplying over 60% of the food. In rainfed areas, the limitation of natural resources with the shrinking land, continuous nutrient mining, soil fertility depletion, declining productivity factor, constantly depleting water availability, decreasing soil carbon (C) stock, augmented weed menace, ecological instability, and reduced system productivity are creating a more challenging situation. Pulses, being crops of marginal and semi-marginal soils of arid and semi-arid climates, require less input for cultivation, such as water, nutrients, tillage, labor, and energy. Furthermore, accommodation of the area for the cultivation of pulses reduces the groundwater exploitation, C and N footprints, agrochemical application in the cropping systems, and ill effects of climate change due to their inherent capacity to withstand harsh soil to exhibit phytoremediation properties and to stand well under stressed environmental condition. This article focuses on the role of pulses in ecological services, human wellbeing, soil, environmental health, and economic security for advanced sustainability. Therefore, this study will enhance the understanding of productivity improvement in a system-based approach in a rainfed agroecosystem through the involvement of pulses. Furthermore, the present study highlighted significant research findings and policy support in the direction of exploring the real yield potential of pulses. It will provide a road map to producers, researchers, policymakers, and government planners working on pulses to promote them in rainfed agroecosystems to achieve the United Nations (UN's) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Copyright � 2023 Kumar, Gopinath, Sheoran, Meena, Srinivasarao, Bedwal, Jangir, Mrunalini, Jat and Praharaj.Publication Soil potassium fertility and management strategies in South Asian agriculture(Academic Press Inc., 2023) Srinivasarao, Ch.; Kundu, Sumanta; Rao, K.V.; Shukla, A.K.; Rao, A. Subba; Imas, Patricia; Bolan, Nanthi S.; Lal, Rattan; Prasad, J.V.N.S.; Abhilash, P.C.; Kumar, G. Ranjith; Meena, R.S.; Pratibha, G.; Narayanaswami, G.; Bansal, S.K.; Nataraj, K.C.; Jagadesh, M.; Mrunalini, K.; Jayaraman, S.; Jat, M.L.; Malleswari, S.N.; Whitbread, Anthony; Venkateswarlu, B.Almost one-fourth of the global population live in South Asia (SA) countries with 14% of cultivable land. Most of the countries in the South Asian region are facing multiple challenges like high population growth, declining farm land area, and low productivity in primary and secondary sectors leading to limited employment opportunities. Consequently, both availability and access to food are adversely affected. Regions exposed to natural disasters, tribal and the hilly regions of SA are amongst the most vulnerable in terms of food security. Accelerated efforts are required to ensure that conflicts do not exacerbate the already fragile food situation in SA. Despite recent strong gains in economic growth and agricultural productivity, food and nutritional security remains a major concern in SA. The region has the largest concentration of poverty and hunger in the world, with nearly 40% of the world's impoverished and 45% of the world's undernourished people. The enormity of malnutrition in SA can be gauged from the fact that it is the home to nearly two-thirds of the world's undernourished children. More than 56% of the world's low-birth-weight babies are born in SA. Furthermore, food and nutrition security remain major challenges with a large proportion of the world's poor living here and global hunger index (GHI) at 30.9. Overcoming these twin challenges require actions both at the national and regional level. Among production constraints and yield gaps, imbalanced nutrient use is a critical issue in many of the SA countries, with nutrient application focused mainly on nitrogen (N), leaving the possibility for other plant nutrient deficiencies including phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). In some cases, the use efficiency of N may be low due to losses in the form of N2O emissions, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), or via leaching with the undesirable offsite effects. Among the primary nutrients, K is an essential nutrient for productivity, food quality and numerous functions in the plant system. It plays a major role in activating ?60 enzymes, regulating stomatal functions, controlling water relations especially under rainfed crop production, influencing the water balance of plant systems, and underpinning agronomic productivity and sustainability. Negative K balance in soil under intensive cropping is reported because of low external input and large crop removal, leading to large scale K mining in soils. Declining yield trends were observed in several fertilizer experiments 30�40 years long with continuous application of either N alone or NP without K under both irrigated and rainfed crop production systems in the region. Recent K fertility analysis indicates widespread K deficiency in light-textured alluvial soils, red and lateritic soils beside acid soil types in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. The countries in SA depend largely on imported K fertilizers. Such imported fertilizer should be utilized most efficiently in the light of limited global K mineral reserves and 93% of world total K exports are from five countries viz. Canada (37.12%) followed by the Russian Federation, Belarus, Germany and Israel. Therefore, the current review addresses issues related to the K supplying capacity of soils in various crop production systems in SA, crop K responses, soil test methods followed, emerging issues in soil K fertility, K balance in major cropping systems and rationalizing K recommendations among crops, soil types and agro-ecological regions. The role of K in balanced nutrition, farm productivity, food and nutritional security in these countries is examined. The review also covers the critical role of K in climate change adaptation, mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and improving overall nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in the SA region. � 2023 Elsevier Inc.
