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Paper No. 698 Received: 06-04-2018 Accepted: 11-05-2018
ABSTRACT
Rice-wheat system is a major dominating cropping system of India. High yields of the irrigated Rice-wheat system have resulted in production of huge quantities of crop residues. Burning of rice straw is common in north-west India causing nutrient losses and serious air pollutions affecting human health, climate change and global warming. To avoid straw burning, innovations in crop residue management should assist in achieving sustainable productivity and allow farmers to reduce nutrient and water inputs, and reduce risk due to climate change. Crop residues contain significant quantities of plant nutrients and their judicious application will have positive effect on nutrient management in rice wheat system. Long-term studies of the residue recycling have indicated improvements in physical, chemical and biological health of soil. Other plausible option of crop residues management lies in utilizing a portion of surplus residue are incorporate in to soil which improve soil health, increase nutrient use efficiency and minimize air pollution and other i.e. mushroom cultivation as converting of inedible crop residues into valuable food, surface mulch as conservation of soil moisture, temperature and control of weed emergence, bio-fuel and compost production. Residue decomposition in soil substantially increases the soil organic carbon and other nutrient. In this review authors have discussed residue potential and possible options for with efficient management of crop residues in the rice wheat cropping system.
Highlights
© Incorporation of crop residue into soil improves the biological, chemical and physical properties of soil.
© Management of residue controls the air and soil pollution.
Keywords: Crop residues management, rice-wheat system, pollution, rice straw, green house gasses
Crop residues are parts of the plants left in the field after crops have been harvested and threshed. The recycling of crop residues has the advantage of converting the farm waste into useful product for meeting nutrient requirement of succeeding crops. India is an agrarian country and generates a large quantity of agricultural wastes. This amount will increase in future as with growing population there is a need to increase the productivity also. Agricultural residues are the biomass left in the field after harvesting of the economic components i.e., grain. Large quantities of crop residues are generated every year, in the form of cereal straws,...