Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Paddy and Water Environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-018-0641-3 ARTICLE Crop establishment with conservation tillage and crop residue retention in rice‑based cropping systems of Eastern India: yield advantage and economic beneft Rajiv Nandan 1  · S. S. Singh 2  · V. Kumar 3  · V. Singh 1  · K. K. Hazra 2  · C. P. Nath 2  · R. K. Malik 4  · S. P. Poonia 4  · Ch. Hemant Solanki 1 Received: 18 August 2017 / Revised: 25 February 2018 / Accepted: 8 March 2018 © The International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Continuous practice of tillage intensive puddled rice-based systems in South Asia has developed serious issues related to soil health and production sustainability. This has exaggerated the need for sustainable alternatives. Here, the impact of four tillage cum crop establishment practices [conventional puddled transplanted rice followed by conventional till maize/wheat (CTTPR-CT), non-puddled transplanted rice followed by zero-till maize/wheat (NPTPR-ZT), zero-till transplanted rice fol- lowed by zero-till maize/wheat (ZTTPR-ZT), zero-till direct seeded rice followed by zero-till maize/wheat (ZTDSR-ZT)], two residue management [residue removal, residue retention (~ 33.0%)] and two rice-based rotations (rice–wheat, rice–maize) on crop performance, system productivity, and production economics were evaluated. At 4th and 5th year of rotation, com- plete zero-tillage-based crop establishment (ZTDSR-ZT, ZTTPR-ZT) enhanced the grain yield of rice (9.3–20.6%), wheat (18.4–22.6%), and maize (10.8–11.8%) over CTTPR-CT, whereas yield advantage in NPTPR-ZT was marginal for all the crops. The higher grain yield of rice and wheat in ZTDSR-ZT and ZTTPR-ZT treatments was mainly attributed to higher tiller production (rice 11.5–23.2%; wheat 29.5–34.9%). Likewise, the higher aboveground biomass, cob length, cob weight, and grains weight cob −1 led to higher maize yield in conservation tillage treatments (NPTPR-ZT, ZTDSR-ZT, and ZTTPR-ZT). Retention of crop residue improved (p < 0.05) the yield of all crops being higher in maize (6.9–10.3%) followed by wheat (5.3–10.5%). The reduced cost of cultivation and higher return from produce in ZTDSR-ZT, ZTTPR-ZT, and NPTPR-ZT enhanced the net income by INR 48164, 35800, 25632, respectively, over CTTPR-CT. Thus, zero-tillage-based crop estab- lishments with crop residue retention were found as potential alternative for improving crop productivity, proftability and sustainability of rice-based production systems. Keywords Non-puddled transplanting · System productivity · Soil organic carbon · Rice–wheat · Zero-till direct seeded rice Introduction The sustainability of rice-based cropping systems is fun- damental to food security and livelihood of farmer’s com- munity of South Asian countries including India (Jat et al. 2014). The remarkable improvement in productivity of rice and wheat during post-green revolution era was evident in Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region with adoption of high yielding cultivars, increased fertilizers use, and develop- ment of irrigation facilities in the region (Byerlee et al. 2003; Erenstein and Laxmi (2008); Kumar et al. 2016). Indeed, the traditional practices such as intensive tillage operations and puddling (wet tillage), crop residue removal or residue burn- ing, overexploitation of natural resources (groundwater), and lack of crop diversifcation have largely transformed the * K. K. Hazra kalikrishna123@gmail.com 1 Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences (SHUATS), Allahabad, India 2 Crop Production Division, ICAR–Indian Institute of Pulses Research (ICAR–IIPR), Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India 3 International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines 4 Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia, Research Platform, ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar, India