ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agroecology and Ecosystem Services
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1597025
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Soil Health and Climate Resilience through Sustainable Agricultural PracticesView all 3 articles
Long-term moisture conservation and nutrient management improves yield stability and resource use efficiency in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) -mustard (Brassica juncea) system under rainfed ecosystem
Provisionally accepted
Samrath Lal Meena1*
Ram Swaroop Bana1*
Ramanjit Kaur1
Ravi Nirmal1
Deepak Singh2Samarth Godara1
Teekam Singh1
Anchal Dass1Twinkle Jena1Rohan Seravat1- 1Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
- 2Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
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Moisture-and nutrient-stress substantially limit limits the productivity and profitability under rainfed environments; therefore, strategic nutrient and moisture management is obligatory.Present study aims to assess the impacts of diverse moisture-conservation and nutrientmanagement protocols on yield-stability, system-sustainability, and soil-health in rainfed pearl millet-mustard rotation. Four moisture-conservation systems: control (M1), crop-residue mulch (CRM: 5 t/ha, M2), farmyard manure (FYM: 5 t/ha, M3), and a combination of CRM 2.5 t/ha + FYM 2.5 t/ha (M4); and three nutrient-management practices: control [N1], recommended dose of nitrogen (RDN: 60-40-40 kg/ha, N, P2O5 and K2O, respectively) [N2], and 50% RDN + biofertilizers (Azospirillum + Pseudomonas striata) [N3] were evaluated in split-plot design for 6 years. The study revealed that the M4 and M3 treatments significantly improved pearl millet yield (64.4-70.7%), mustard yield (25.8-31.6%), system productivity (35-41.4%), rainwater-use efficiency (RUE, 35.2-40.8%), and sustainable yield index (65.5-81.6%) over control. The system productivity was highest in 2014-15 (6.06 t/ha) and 2019-20(5.93 t/ha). The RUE reached maxima during 2017-18 (7.27 kg/ha-mm). The M4N3 combination resulted in greatest system productivity (7.64 t/ha), higher available NPK (200, 16.03 and 259.2 kg/ha, respectively) content in top-soil and improved soil microbialenzymatic activity (dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase and protease). The integrated approach of CRM + FYM coupled with 50% RDN + Azospirillum + Pseudomonas biofertilizers offers a viable solution for sustainably enhancing productivity and profitability in the pearl millet-mustard system under water-limited ecologies. Our studies indicate the potential of adopting organic nutrient-cum-moisture management sources along with conventional synthetic fertilizers in sustaining the productivity and soil-health in fragile rainfed ecosystems.
Keywords: Crop-residue recycling, Moisture conservation, Organics-embedded nutrient management, Pearl millet-mustard system, rainwater use efficiency, Rainfed agriculturedrylands
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Meena, Bana, Kaur, Nirmal, Singh, Godara, Singh, Dass, Jena and Seravat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Samrath Lal Meena, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
Ram Swaroop Bana, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
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