Enhancing wheat resilience in subtropical agroecosystems through climate-resilient agriculture strategies

Raj K Jat¹Vijay Singh Meena^2*S Pazhanisamy¹R K Sohane³Ratnesh Kumar Jha⁴R N Singh³Dr Shubham Durgude¹Suneel Kumar¹Illathur Rajesh Reddy¹K M Choudhary¹Sunita K Meena⁴Brijendu Kumar³Umesh N Umesh³Dr Ranjan Kumar Singh³Ravikant Chaubey³Mukesh Kumar³Vinod Kumar³Kumari Sharda³Susheel Singh³Rama K Singh³Seema Kumari³K M Singh³Govind Kumar³Ravindra K Tiwari⁴Vinita Kashyap⁴Suneeta Kushwaha⁴Sripriya Das⁴Prem Prakash⁴Shubham Bhagat¹Rodda C Devi⁴Amit K Lenka¹Bharati Upadhaya⁴Sumit K Singh⁴SANCHITA GHOSH⁴Anup Das⁵

• ¹CIMMYT-Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA),, Samastipur, Bihar, India
• ²Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
• ³Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), Bhagalpur, India
• ⁴Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar, India
• ⁵ICAR-Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patana, Bihar, India

Wheat production in subtropical agroecosystems is increasingly challenged by climateinduced stresses such as lodging, terminal heat, and erratic rainfall patterns. This study was conducted during the 2023-24 rabi season across eight locations, including the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) Research Station at Pusa and seven project hubs located in the districts of Munger, Nawada, Nalanda, Katihar, Purnea, Samastipur, and Vaishali in Bihar, India, evaluated climateresilient agronomic strategies to enhance wheat resilience and productivity. A randomized block design with 20 replications was used to assess the interactive effects of tillage practices (conventional tillage [CT], zero tillage [ZT], and permanent raised beds [PRB]), sowing times (early vs. timely), and wheat varieties (HD2967, DBW187, and DBW316) on crop performance. Results indicated that PRB and ZT strategies significantly (p < 0.05) reduced (80-90%) risk of lodging and increased (15 to 25%) in wheat grain yield than conventional tillage (CT). Furthermore, early sowing (first fortnight of November) and the use of lodging-resilient varieties of HD2967 and DBW187 reduced the crop lodging, improved crop performance, and increased wheat grain yield than late sowing (second fortnight of November) and the DBW316 variety, respectively. Correlation and regression analysis studies exposed a weak positive correlation between yield and wind speed (r=0.133) and a stronger positive correlation effect with rainfall (r=0.342) during early sowing crops, with stepwise regression indicating yield gains of 0.32 t/ha and 1.15 t/ha under optimum wind speed and rainfall, respectively (r =0.68). In contrast, late sowing exhibited negative correlations, with yield declining by 0.39 t/ha and 0.12 t/ha under aberrant wind and rainfall condition (r = 0.52). The study emphasized the significance of adopting climate-resilient agronomic strategies, such as zero tillage (ZT), appropriate variety selection (HD2967 and DBW187), and early sowing, to enhance the sustainability and resilience of wheat production under adverse climatic conditions.