Back to Search Start Over

Chapter Two - No-till farming and climate change mitigation: Lessons learnt from long-term no-till experiments and future perspectives.

Authors :
Jayaraman, Somasundaram
Naorem, Anandkumar
Dalal, Ram C.
Sinha, Nishant K.
Rao, Ch. Srinivasa
Lal, Rattan
Kundu, S.
Prasad, J. V. N. S.
Singh, A. K.
Source :
Advances in Agronomy. 2024, Vol. 187, p21-107. 87p.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Rapid population increase, urbanization, soil degradation and inappropriate management practices have put tremendous pressure on natural resources, particularly on soil, water, and vegetation. Soil resource is vital for farming to provide food and nutritional security performing ecosystem functions and services and achieving Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs). Worldwide, ~33% soil resource has been adversely degraded by diverse processes. To protect soil resource from further degradation, there is a strong need of sustainable soil management practices for enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC), soil health, and crop production in a sustainable manner. "No-till farming (NT)/conservation agriculture (CA)" has been widely practiced worldwide on about 210 million ha. The long-term NT experiments play a significant role in improving soil health, SOC sequestration, and in-depth understanding of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, climate change mitigation and optimizing resource use efficiency, to cater for the needs of the present- and future-generations. According to FAO, NT/CA is a farming system that promotes minimum soil disturbance (i.e., no tillage), maintenance of a permanent soil cover, and diversification of plant species. This system increases biodiversity and natural biological processes in above- and below-ground surface, which helps in enhanced water- and nutrient use-efficiency and sustained crop production. From the literature, it is evident that shift from traditional/conventional tillage (CT) with residue burning/removal to NT/CA farming has been recognized as an important soil management practice/strategy for sustaining soil health, reducing soil erosion and reversing soil degradation. This chapter deliberates the effect of NT/CA on soil health, nutrient stratification, SOC dynamics through modeling, SOC sequestration, GHG emissions, socio-economic condition in adoption and also suggesting the future perspectives on NT and CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00652113
Volume :
187
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Advances in Agronomy
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
178606175
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.agron.2024.05.005