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Food supply

Conservation Agriculture Boosts Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Research on conservation agriculture (CA) has identified its potential to address environmental degradation and enhance agricultural productivity. A study conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) has assessed the impact of a double zero-tilled bed-planting (PRBZT) system combined with optimized phosphate fertilizer management on root architecture, carbon-phosphorus dynamics, and carbon management index in a maize-wheat rotation (MWR) in south-Asian semi-arid agro-ecology.

Key Takeaways:

  • The PRBZT system showed significant improvements in root architecture, with macro-aggregates, total water-stable aggregates, mean weight diameter, and soil organic carbon being 48.6, 11.5, 25, and 11.6% higher, respectively, compared to conventionally-tilled flat bed-planting (FBCT) system.
  • The PRBZT system had 13.2-15.6% enhanced soil phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, dehydrogenase enzyme activity, alkaline phosphatase activity, acid phosphatase activity, and soil microbial biomass carbon over FBCT.
  • The fertilization with P+PSB + AMF+2FSP had 12.3, 57.2, 4.3, and 70.2% higher available-NPK and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria over P, respectively.
  • The PRBZT system combined with optimized phosphate fertilizer management resulted in a fertilizer-P savings of 34.7% and a positive phosphorus budget, ensuring optimal nutrient P-availability, minimal P-loss, and stabilized soil P-fractions.
  • The study concluded that the PRBZT system combined with optimized phosphate fertilizer management may be recommended for enhancing productivity, root architecture, resource-use efficiency, and soil carbon pools in south-Asian Indo-Gangetic Plain Region, supporting several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Statistics:

  • 48.6% increase in macro-aggregates in PRBZT system over FBCT
  • 11.5% increase in total water-stable aggregates in PRBZT system over FBCT
  • 25% increase in mean weight diameter in PRBZT system over FBCT
  • 11.6% increase in soil organic carbon in PRBZT system over FBCT
  • 13.2-15.6% enhancement in soil phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, dehydrogenase enzyme activity, alkaline phosphatase activity, acid phosphatase activity, and soil microbial biomass carbon in PRBZT system over FBCT
  • 12.3, 57.2, 4.3, and 70.2% higher available-NPK and phosphorus solubilizing bacteria in P+PSB + AMF+2FSP fertilization over P
  • 34.7% fertilizer-P savings in PRBZT system combined with optimized phosphate fertilizer management

Sources:

  • Double zero-tilled bed-planting and optimized P-fertilization in maize-wheat rotation: An empirical investigation on root architecture, carbon-phosphorus dynamics, and soil carbon pools. Journal of Environmental Management, 2025;392:126668. Journal of Environmental Management can be contacted at: Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd, 24-28 Oval Rd, London NW1 7DX, England.
  • Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) Reports Findings in Chemicals and Chemistry (Double zero-tilled bed-planting and optimized P-fertilization in maize-wheat rotation: An empirical ...). Agriculture Week. August 7, 2025; p 1639.

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