Person: Gupta, R.K.
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Gupta
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R.K.
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Gupta, R.K.
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0000-0001-5755-1143 14 results
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- Tillage, irrigation levels and rice straw mulches effects on wheat productivity, soil aggregates and soil organic carbon dynamics after rice in sandy loam soils of subtropical climatic conditions(JPAM, 2016) Naresh, R.K.; Gupta, R.K.; Jat, M.L.; Singh, S.P.; Ashish Dwivedi; Dhaliwal, S.S.; Kumar, V.; Kumar, L.; Singh, O.; Singh, V.; Kumar, A.; Rathore, R.S.
Publication - Performance of different wheat genotypes under different tillage options(Green Global Foundation, 2009) Hossain, M.I.; Sayre, K.D.; Gupta, R.K.; Duxbury, J.M.; Haque, M.E.
Publication - Herbicidal effect on the growth and yield of wheat(Green Global Foundation, 2009) Hossain, M.I.; Haque, M.E.; Sayre, K.D.; Gupta, R.K.; Talukder, S.N.; Islam, M.S.; Sobahan, M.A.
Publication - Predicting yield and stability analysis of wheat under different crop management systems across agro-ecosystems in India(Scientific Research Publishing Inc., 2017) Jat, M.L.; Jat, R.K.; Singh, P.; Jat, S.L.; Sidhu, H.S.; Jat, H.S.; Bijarniya, D.; Parihar, C.M.; Gupta, R.K.The objectives of the study were as follows: 1) to evaluate the GxExM for wheat genotypes; 2) to predict yield performance and identify high stable wheat genotypes in different management practices; and 3) to make genotype-specific management and high performing genotype recommendations within and across agro-ecological regions. A diverse set of twenty-one genotypes was evaluated over three years (2012, 2013 and 2014) under two levels of crop management practices (CT and ZT) across three agro-ecological regions (BR, MP and PB) of India in replicated trials. Data were analyzed with SASGxE and RGxE programs using SAS and R programming languages, respectively. Across and within a location(s), the pattern of GxExM and GxMxY interactions (respectively) among univariate and multivariate stability statistics, grouping of genotypes in divisive clusters and estimates (with a prediction interval) of genotype varied in management practice CT and ZT. Across locations, the genotypes “Munal” and “HD-2967” were the best performers and high stable in CT and ZT, respectively. Genotypes “HD-2824” and “DPW-621-50”, and “Munal” may serve as diverse parents for developing high quality, climate smart, locally adapted genotypes for BR in CT and ZT, respectively. Genotypes “HD-2932”, “BAZ” and “JW-3288”, and “GW-322” and “HD-2967” are suitable for developing locally adapted stress tolerant genotypes for MP in management practices CT and ZT, respectively. Relatively small GxM and GxExM interactions in PB preclude in making definitive conclusions.
Publication - Soil organic carbon changes after seven years of conservation agriculture in a rice–wheat system of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains(Wiley, 2017) Sapkota, T.; Jat, R.K.; Singh, R.G.; Jat, M.L.; Stirling, C.; Jat, M.K.; Bijarniya, D.; Kumar, M.; Yadvinder-Singh; Saharawat, Y.S.; Gupta, R.K.Sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important strategy to improve soil quality and to mitigate climate change. To investigate changes in SOC under conservation agriculture (CA), we measured SOC concentrations after seven years of rice (Oryza sativa L.)–wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rotations in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India under various combinations of tillage and crop establishment methods. The six treatments were as follows: conventional till transplanted rice followed by conventional till wheat (CTR-CTW), CTR followed by zero-till wheat (CTR-ZTW), ZT direct-seeded rice followed by CTW (ZTDSR-CTW), ZTDSR followed by ZT wheat both on permanent raised beds with residue (PBDSR-PBW+R), and ZTDSR followed by ZTW both with (ZTDSR-ZTW+R) and without residues (ZTDSR-ZTW). We hypothesized that CA systems (i.e. ZT with residue retention) would sequester more carbon (C) than CT. After seven years, ZTDSRZTW+ R and PBDSR-PBW+R increased SOC at 0–0.6 m depth by 4.7 and 3.0 t C/ha, respectively, whereas the CTR-CTW system resulted in a decrease in SOC of 0.9 t C/ha. Over the same soil depth, ZT without residue retention (ZTDSR-ZTW) only increased SOC by 1.1 t C/ha. There was no increase in SOC where ZT in either rice or wheat was followed by CT in the next crop (i.e. CTRZTW and ZTDSR-CTW), most likely because the benefit of ZT is lost when followed by tillage. Tillage and crop establishment methods had no significant effect on the SOC stock below the 0.15-m soil layer. Over the seven years, the total carbon input from above-ground residues was ca. 14.5 t/ha in ZTDSR-ZTW+R and PBDSR-PBW+R, almost sixfold greater than in the other systems. Our findings suggest that the increased biomass production achieved through a combination of ZT and partial residue retention offers an opportunity to increase SOC whilst allowing residues to be used for other purposes.
Publication - Herbicide options for effective weed management in dry direct-seeded rice under scented rice-wheat rotation of western Indo- Gangetic Plains(Elsevier, 2016) Singh, V; Jat, M.L.; Ganie, Z.; Chauhan, B.S.; Gupta, R.K.Farmers' participatory field trials were conducted at Madhuban, and Taraori, the two participatory experimental sites/locations of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), a collaborative project of IRRI and CIMMYT in Karnal district of Haryana, India, during Kharif (wet season) 2010 and 2011. This research aimed to evaluate preemergence (PRE) and postemergence (POST) herbicides for providing feasible and economically viable weed management options to farmers for predominant scented rice varieties. Treatments with pendimethalin PRE fb bispyribac-sodium + azimsulfuron POST had lower weed biomass at 45 days after sowing (DAS). At Madhuban, highest grain yield of scented basmati rice (3.43 t ha−1) was recorded with the sequential application of pendimethalin PRE fb bispyribac-sodium + azimsulfuron POST. However, at Taraori, yields were similar with pendimethalin or oxadiargyl PRE fb bispyribac-sodium and/or azimsulfuron POST. Applying oxadiargyl by mixing with sand onto flooded field was less effective than spray applications in non-flooded field. The benefit-cost ratio of rice crop was higher with herbicide treatments at both sites as compared with the non-treated weed-free check except single PRE and POST applications and sequential application of oxadiargyl PRE fb oxadiargyl PRE. In a separate experiment conducted at Nagla and Taraori sites, scented rice cultivars' ('CSR 30′ and 'Pusa 1121′) tolerance to three rates of azimsulfuron (15, 25, and 35 g ai ha−1) was evaluated over two years (2010 and 2011). CSR 30 (superfine, scented) was more sensitive to higher rates (35 g ai ha−1) of azimsulfuron as compared to Pusa 1121 (fine, scented). Crop injuries were 8 and 28% in case of CSR 30; 5 and 15% in Pusa 1121 when applied with azimsulfuron 25 and 35 g ai ha−1, respectively. Azimsulfuron applied at 35 g ai ha−1 reduced yield in both cultivars but in CSR 30 yield reduction was twofold (11.5%) as that of Pusa 1121 (5.2%).
Publication - Operational manual for turbo happy seeder: technology for managing crop residues with environmental stewardship(CIMMYT, 2013) Jat, M.L.; Kapil; Kamboj, B.R.; Sidhu, H.S.; Singh, M.; Bana, A.; Bishnoi, D.K.; Gathala, M.K.; Saharawat, Y.S.; Kumar, V.; Kumar, A.; Jat, H.S.; Jat, R.K.; Sharma, P.C.; Sharma, R.; Singh, R.; Sapkota, T.; Malik, R.; Gupta, R.K.Multiple challenges associated with plough based conventional production practices that include deteriorating natural resources, declining factor productivity, yield plateau, shortages of water & labour and escalating costs of production inputs coupled with emerging challenges of climate change both in irrigated intensive systems as well as low intensity rainfed ecologies are the major threat to food security of South Asia (Jat et al, 2009; Ladha et al, 2009; Chauhan et al, 2012). Water and labour scarcity and timeliness of farming operations specially crop establishment under the emerging climatic uncertainties are becoming major concerns of farming all across farmer typologies, production systems and ecologies in the region (Chauhan et al, 2012). In many parts of South Asia, over-exploitation and poor management of groundwater has led to declining water table and negative environmental impacts. Conventional tillage based flooded rice receiving the largest amount of fresh water compared to any other crop is the major contributor to the problems of declining groundwater table ranging from 0.1– 1.0 m year-1 specially in north-west India and increasing energy use and costs. The problem has further been intensified with the unavailability of labour in time, and multi-fold increase in labour costs. Fragmented land holdings and nucleus farm families further exacerbates the problem of availability of farm labour. Potential solutions to address these issues include a shift from intensive tillage based practices to conservation agriculture (CA) based crop management systems (Saharawat et al, 2010; Jat et al, 2012; Gathala et al, 2013). Direct drilling (seeding/planting with zero tillage technology) is one such practice that potentially addresses the issues of labor, energy, water, soil health etc (Malik et al 2005; Gupta and Sayre, 2007; Jat et al, 2009; Ladha et al, 2009; Gathala et al, 2011; Jat et al, 2013) and adaptations to climatic variability (Jat et al, 2009; Malik et al, 2013). One of the key elements of CA is rational soil cover with organics (crop residues, cover crops etc) has greater relevance not only in terms of managing the agricultural waste but particularly for eliminating burning, improving soil health, conserve water, help in adaptation to and mitigating of climate change effects. Globally, annual production of crop residues is estimated at 3440 million tonnes of which large quantities are not managed properly. In India alone, more than 140 million tonnes of crop residues are disposed of by burning each year. In rice-wheat system of the IGP of South Asia, the disposal of rice residues is one of the major challenges due to poor quality for fodder, bioconversion, and engineering applications. In most combine harvested rice fields of western IGP, the rice residues are burnt before planting of wheat. The field burning of crop residues is a major contributor to poor air quality (particulates, greenhouse gases), human respiratory ailments, and the death of beneficial soil fauna and micro-organisms. During burning of crop residues around 80% of carbon is lost as CO2 and a small fraction is evolved as CO. Burning involving incomplete combustion can also be a source of net emissions of many greenhouse gases including CO, CH4, SO2 and N2O. Crop residue burning accounts 6.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emission annually in India (INCCA, 2010). Apart from loss of carbon, up to 80% loss of N and S, 25% of P and 21% of K occurs during burning of crop residues (Ponnamperuma, 1984; Yadvinder-Singh et al., 2010). For managing residues of combine harvested crops and field (loose as well as anchored) as surface mulch and realize multiple benefits of improve crop yields, conserve soil moisture, saving of irrigation, buffer soil temperature, improve SOC, adapt to terminal heat effects in addition to environmental benefits through eliminating burning, ‘Turbo Happy Seeder’, is now available, which is capable of direct drilling (ZT) into heavy surface residue loads in a single operation. Many of the farmers in India and elsewhere have started using Turbo Happy Seeder for residue management. However, one of the major constraints in large scale adoption of this technology as well as sub-optimal use efficiency of planter is the lack of skills/knowledge on operation, calibration and maintenance of the machinery. There are different field situation specific adjustments needed before the use of the machine in the field. These adjustments include proper seeding depth, fertilizer rate and the seed rate etc as per the crop and field conditions to realize the potential benefits of the technology. There are several machinery manufacturers who supply these planters but the operational manuals are not available for making adjustments, calibrations under local conditions. In absence of the proper operational guidelines and protocols for efficient use of this machine by the farmers, service providers, extension agents, many a times the desirable results are not achieved and even contradictory results are observed. This results in slow down the adoption rates of the technology. Also, in absence of simple guidelines for maintenance of the machine, the farmers/service providers need to make huge investments on repairing at the start of the season. Therefore, we attempted to develop an operational manual to provide simple guidelines for calibration, operation, maintenance and troubleshooting for efficient use of turbo happy seeder by the range of stakeholders including farmers, service providers, extension agents and researchers.
Publication - Layering precision land leveling and furrow irrigated raised bed planting: Productivity and input use efficiency of irrigated bread wheat in indo-gangetic plains(Scientific Research Publishing, 2011) Jat, M.L.; Gupta, R.K.; Saharawat, Y.S.; Khosla, R.Stagnating yield and declining input use efficiency in irrigated wheat of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) coupled with diminishing availability of water for agriculture is a major concern of food security in South Asia. The objective of our study was to establish an understanding of how wheat yield and input use efficiency can be improved and how land leveling and crop establishment practices can be modified to be more efficient in water use through layering of precision-conservation crop management techniques. The ?precision land leveling with raised bed? planting can be used to improve crop yield, water and nutrient use efficiency over the existing ?traditional land leveling with flat? planting practices. We conducted a field experiment during 2002-2004 at Modipuram, India to quantify the benefits of alternate land leveling (precision land leveling) and crop establishment (furrow irrigated raised bed planting) techniques alone or in combination (layering precision-conservation) in terms of crop yield, water savings, and nutrient use efficiency of wheat production in IGP. The wheat yield was about 16.6% higher with nearly 50% less irrigation water with layering precision land leveling and raised bed planting compared to traditional practices (traditional land leveling with flat planting). The agronomic (AE) and uptake efficiency (UE) of N, P and K were significantly improved under precision land leveling with raised bed planting technique compared to other practices.
Publication - Water saving in rice-wheat systems(Taylor & Francis, 2005) Humphreys, E.; Meisner, C.A.; Gupta, R.K.; Timsina, J.; Beecher, H.G.; Tang Y.L.; Yadvinder-Singh; Gill, M.A.; Masih, I.; Zheng Jia Guo; Thompson, J.A.Water shortage is a major constraint to sustaining and increasing the productivity of rice-wheat systems. Saving water can be elusive in that reducing seepage, percolation and runoff losses from fields does not necessarily save water if it can be recaptured at some other temporal or spatial scale, for example by groundwater pumping. Many technologies appear to save substantial amounts of water through reducing irrigation water requirement, but whether these are true water savings is uncertain as components of the water balance have not been quantified. Such technologies include laser levelling, direct drilling, raised beds, non-ponded rice culture and irrigation scheduling. It is questionable whether puddling saves water. Reducing non-beneficial evaporation losses is a true water saving, and optimal planting time of rice to avoid the period of highest evaporative demand and changing to non-ponded rice culture can save significant amounts of water. However, moving away from puddled, ponded to more aerobic rice culture sometimes brings new production problems. Furthermore, farmers faced with unreliable water supplies need to store water on their fields as insurance, and puddling assists retention of water during the rice crop. Rehabilitation and improvement of canal and power systems in Asia, funded by charging according to use, are required to facilitate adoption of many water saving technologies. Australian farmers pay fixed plus volumetric charges for water to cover the cost of infrastructure and operation of irrigation systems, which are continuously being improved to provide water on demand and minimise losses. They are able to plan their plantings based on knowledge of the likely amount of irrigation water available each season and crop water use requirement, and thus avoid wasting water and financial loss by overplanting and crop failure. Such approaches have the potential to increase production and water productivity in Asia, however the challenge would be to apply them in an equitable way that benefits many millions of subsistence farmers.
Publication - Regional dialogue on conservation agriculture on South Asia: proceedings and recommendations(CIMMYT, 2011) Jat, M.L.; Malik, R.; Saharawat, Y.S.; Gupta, R.K.; Mal, B.; Paroda, R.S.South Asia accounts for less than 2% of the world’s total land area and 14 % of the global agricultural land. However, about 94% of the agriculturally suitable area is already under cultivation with almost no scope for further horizontal expansion of agriculture. There has been a tremendous shift in the production variables of modern farming over traditional farming. Even then, most of the agronomic works revolved around tillage and labour intensive farming. Declining soil organic carbon (SOC) status of soils has been the main shift in agriculture from ‘traditional animal based subsistence’ to ‘intensive chemical and tractor based’ agriculture that multiplied problems associated with sustainability of natural resources. The SOC concentration in most cultivated soils of South Asia is less than 5 g/kg compared with 15-20 g/kg in uncultivated virgin soils, attributed to intensive tillage, removal/burning of crop residue and mining of soil fertility. Large acreage of cultivated lands shows fertility fatigue and multiple nutrients deficiency in many intensively cropped areas. This adds to our challenge of making farming more profitable and sustainable. Hence, the current and future food security of South Asian countries has twin challenges of resource fatigue and decelerating productivity growth of food grain crops. These challenges are being further exacerbated with the sharp rise in the cost of food and energy, depleting water resources, vulnerability of soil to degradation, indiscriminate and imbalanced use of external production inputs and overarching effects of changing climate. This has and will further lead to lower farm profit, making farming unattractive and unsustainable. The efficiency and sustainability of a production system depends on system-based management optimization of crop yields, economic benefits, and environmental impacts. Therefore, vertical improvement through development and deployment of tools and techniques aiming at increasing agricultural production and arresting degradation of soil, water and environment and their rational use are essential to satisfy future food demand in the region and to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To bring a paradigm shift in agriculture, National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS), the FAO of the United Nations and CGIAR Centers have accepted conservation agriculture (CA) as a vehicle for change. No-till agriculture together with other associated management practices such as direct seeding into loose crop residues to provide soil cover and to conserve soil moisture, judicious choice of crop rotations and agroforestry tree species constitutes conservation agriculture (CA). CA based crop management practices have proved to be effective to produce more at less costs, reduce environmental pollution, promote conjunctive use of organics (avoids residue burning), improve soil health and promote timeliness of planting and other farm operations to address issues relating to terminal heat stress in the region. Like any other tillage and crop establishment technology, it may not be a panacea for all present day ills, but has proven to bring out south American Agriculture out of its stagnant state almost 20 years ago, skyrocketing the cereals and oilseed production system. Same is the case for regional CA networks in different continents/sub-continents. CA is being widely accepted as an important component of the overall strategy for enhancing productivity, improving the environment and conserving natural resources for food security and alleviating poverty in such areas. Thus, for addressing the issues of resource fatigue and bridging management yield gaps, in South Asia, Conservation agriculture based management solutions can prove to be the cornerstone. In South Asia, no-till systems were introduced during mid 1990s by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in close collaboration with regional NARES primarily to grow wheat in ricewheat system. The CA program was later facilitated by the strong presence of Rice-Wheat Consortium (RWC) for the Indo-Gangetic Plains led by the regional NARS and convened by CIMMYT. It led to a steady rise in the acreage of CA based resource conserving technologies in India, Pakistan, and Nepal and to some extent in Bangladesh. RWC reported a total coverage of nearly 3 m ha under CA based resource conserving technologies in South Asia by 2007 benefiting hundreds of thousand farmers directly to the extent of nearly US$ 150 million. This has been possible through regional learnings and information sharing for development of light weight, low cost multi-crop ferti-seed planters through building capacity of local manufacturers. However, in the past few years, there has been a slowdown in the adoption of zero-till systems in the region. This has been due to several reasons including blanket and commodity crop based recommendations, farmers’ access to location specific and timely information and policy mismatches in prioritization of investments but the most important one is the lack of common platform for regional learnings and information sharing. It is fairly well understand that dissemination or extension of new technologies in general and CA in particular is a complex issue. Very often than not the scientists, having developed and tested the technologies, are not able to transfer these to the farmers widely. Why farmer is not ready to adopt the new technologies is an issue that haunts the planners and scientists alike. Farmers today need value chain information (production, protection, inputs and services) on region-specific technologies. These region specific technologies and innovations are in advanced stages of experimentation in farmers’ fields. However, the lack of a regional common platform for sharing this information and capacity building are the major deterrent in accelerating the pace of adoption of CA in South Asia. Therefore, the agricultural science, extension and development leaders, key researchers of South Asian National Agricultural Research and Extension System (NARES), CGIAR Centers in the region, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), innovators, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and farmer associations met on 1-2 November, 2011 at New Delhi, India for a dialogue on ‘Conservation Agriculture in South Asia’. The dialogue focused on Conservation Agricultural Research for Development (CAR4D) through innovations for greater impacts on smallholder farmers in the region was organized jointly by Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The dialogue was structured in four sessions: i) status of conservation agriculture in the region, ii) initiatives of CG Centers on CA in South Asia, iii) focused discussion through break-out groups on (a) out-scaling for impact, (b) partnerships for regional cooperation, (c) capacity building, and (iv) research and development needs on CA in South Asia. The status reports of different countries were presented by the respective RW coordinators of regional NARS and the progress of CA initiatives by the key CG Centers in the region (CIMMYT, IRRI, IFPRI, ILRI, ICRISAT) as well as other international programs in Central Asia were presented by the respective lead scientists of these organizations. All presentations were followed by in-depth discussions. This report provides the outcomes of deliberations and key recommendations for implementation by the scientific community and policy planners.
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