Sustainable Issues and Crop Diversification of the Rice-Wheat Cropping System for Higher Productivity and Resource Use Efficiency: A Review
Kuldeep Singh *
Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India.
Sachin Dhanda
Department of Agronomy, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India.
Kartik Sharma
Department of Agronomy, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana- 141004 (Punjab), India.
Dheeraj Panghaal
Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 (Haryana), India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) played a significant role in national food security. This system is having a huge potential to feed the increasing population of India. But with continuous adoption of the rice-wheat system, different issues and challenges have emerged and resulted in the decline or stagnated the productivity of this system. In these conditions’ diversification of the RWCS can be a viable option for higher productivity, profitability and efficient and sustainable use of available natural resources. This review mainly highlighted the major issues associated with the rice-wheat cropping system in India along with the alternate cropping system for crop diversification by substitution various crops viz. legume, maize, oilseed, fodder, vegetables and cash crop to tackle them. The comparison of various cropping system in term their crop productivity, economics analysis, water and nutrient productivity, and maintaining soil health.
Keywords: Rice-wheat, soil health, pollution, residue management, crop rotation, diversification