a b s t r a c t
In north-western India, maize-based systems are being advocated as an alternative to rice-based
systems to address the issues of resource degradation, particularly declining water tables and climatechange-induced
variability in rainfall and temperature. Conservation agriculture (CA) based best-bet crop
management practices may increase crop and water productivity, while conserving and sustaining natural
resources. In a 6-year study of conservation agriculture experiment established in 2008, we have
evaluated the performance of CA-based management practices [permanent bed (PB) and zero tillage (ZT)]
and conventionaltill(CT)for four intensified irrigated maize systems [maize-wheat-mungbean (MWMb),
maize-chickpea-Sesbania green manure (MCS), maize-mustard-mungbean (MMuMb) and maize-maizeSesbania
(MMS)]. Significant (P < 0.05) tillage and cropping system interactions were observed for system
productivity. Agronomic performance (yield attributes) of allthe crops (except wheat) grown in sequence
with maize was maximum with ZT, however wheat outperformed on PB over ZT and CT. In the initial
two years, higher system productivity (maize equivalent yield) was recorded in PB (8.2–8.5 Mg ha−1),
while from third year onwards ZT registered maximum productivity (11.3–12.9 Mg ha−1).The system
glucose equivalent yield increased by 0.6 Mg ha−1 under ZT and PB compared to CT. Economic profits
from maize-based rotations were invariably higher either in MMuMb or MWMb systems, while in
terms of glucose equivalent yield, MMS and MWMb rotation were highest. Synergistic effects of summer
legumes (mungbean and Sesbania) after winter legume/oilseed/cereal were observed on yield of
individual crop vis-a-vis system productivity and irrigation water use. ZT and PB practices reduced the
irrigation water requirement by 40–65 ha-mm and 60–98 ha-mm, respectively compared to CT system,
resulted enhanced system water productivity by 19.4% equally under both ZT and PB. Net profit from the
maize-based systems under ZT was up to 31% higher with 72$ ha−1 lower production cost compared to
CT. Results from our study showed that adoption of CA based tillage practices in MMuMb and MWMb
system for sustainable increase of crop and water productivity in north-western region of India.
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