Vikas Abrol

Tillage Effects on Soil Health and Crop Productivity: A Review

The cultivation of agricultural soils has until recently predominantly been achieved by inverting the soil using tools such as the plough. Soil tillage is one of the basic and important components of agricultural production technology. Various forms of tillage are practised throughout the world, ranging from the use of simple stick or jab to the sophisticated para-plough. The practices developed, with whatever equipment used, can be broadly classified into no tillage, minimum tillage, conservation tillage and conventional tillage. Energy plays a key role in the various tillage systems. Soil tillage is

Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration in Dryland Soils

Climate change is the biggest threat to humanity with implications for food production, natural ecosystems, health etc. The primary greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Although carbon dioxide is the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide and methane have longer durations in the atmosphere and absorb more long-wave radiations. Therefore, small quantities of methane and nitrous oxide can have significant effects on climate change. The mean global level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing to a level that can generate serious climate changes in air temperature, aggressive weather cycles and greater frequency of storms (Osborn et al., 2000). The primary sources of greenhouse gases in agriculture are the production of nitrogen based fertilizers; the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas; and waste management. Livestock enteric fermentation results in methane emissions. Increased levels of greenhouse gases enhance the naturally occurring greenhouse effect by trapping even more of the sun’s heat, resulting in a global warming effect. The average surface temperature of the earth is likely to increase by 2 to 11.5°F (1.16.4°C) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 1980-1990, with a best estimate of 3.2 to 7.2°F (1.8-4.0°C) (Fig. 1). The average rate of warming over each inhabited continent is very likely to be at least twice as large as that experienced during the 20th century.

Efficient Nutrient Management Practices for Sustainable Crop Productivity and Soil Fertility Maintenance Based on Permanent Manorial Experiments in Different Soil and Agro-Climatic Conditions

© 2012 Maruthi Sankar et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Efficient Nutrient Management Practices for Sustainable Crop Productivity and Soil Fertility Maintenance Based on Permanent Manorial Experiments in Different Soil and Agro-Climatic Conditions

Biochar A Source of C Sink and Soil Health-A Review

Biochar refer to the carbon-rich materials (charcoal) obtained from the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen‐ limited environment (pyrolysis). Biochar was first found in the Central Amazon basin. Applying biochar to agricultural soils is considered to improve carbon sequestration and decreased greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Recently, biochar has gotten attention of researchers because of its capacity to improve water-holding capacity and nutrient-holding ability of soil because of its porous structure, high specific surface area, and CEC. Use of biochar can increase soil nutrient availability in the long term (Lehmann et al., 2003; Rondon et al., 2007; Steiner et al., 2008). The use of biochar can enhance soil pH and soil CEC (Liang et al., 2006) and increase in soil water retention capacity and decrease in soil strength (Chan et al., 2007). Adoption of biochar management does not require new resources but makes use of locally available and renewable materials in a sustainable way. Biomass can include forestry and agricultural waste products, municipal green waste, biosolids, animal manures, some industrial wastes such as peppermill wastes. Soil organic matter is the key to soil health. In wet tropical condition, organic matter is easily subjected to decomposition and mineralization. Mineralization produces CO2 in just a few seasons and causes nutrient content to be low. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 04 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com

An Appraisal of Conservation Tillage on the Soil Properties and C Sequestration

Soil is a fundamental natural resource on which civilization depends. Agricultural production is directly related to quality of soil. In view of the rapidly expanding global population and its pressure on the finite amount of land available for agricultural production; maintaining soil quality is essential not only for agricultural sustainability, but also for environmental protection. Maintenance of soil quality would reduce the problems of land degradation, decreasing soil fertility and rapidly declining production levels that occur in many parts of the world which lack the basic principles of good farming practices. Intensification of agricultural production has been an important factor influencing GHG emission and affecting the water balance. Currently, agriculture accounts for approximately 13% of total global anthropogenic emissions and is responsible for about 47% of total anthropogenic emissions of methane (CH4) and 58% nitrous oxide (N2O).